Alexander Grabovetskiy
Alexander Grabovetskiy carving two roaring lion heads in limewood, a custom wood carving in progress.
Figural

Carved Lion Heads in Limewood

Material
Limewood
Discipline
Figural
Year
2020
Collection
Lion

A pair of roaring lion heads framed by acanthus scrollwork, hand-carved by Alexander Grabovetskiy in limewood. Shown in progress at the workbench, these figural architectural pieces have deeply undercut manes and flowing Baroque relief.

Drawn to this piece, or planning a commission of your own?

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The Detail

Look close. Each line is different: one goes up, the next goes down. There are even veins, the arteries, the blood vessels, right there. I don't think you can do that on CNC.

Alexander Grabovetskiy · No two lines the same

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The Practice

The work as historical study

Every commission starts as a research project, not just an order. Before a single cut, the work is to study the piece: to trace a motif back to its period and its masters, to understand how the hand that first carved it thought and moved, and to carry a vanishing skill forward into a new piece, the way carvers have worked for centuries.

A carving from this studio is, for that reason, one of a kind: an interpretation of a historical style, never a copy stamped from a pattern. The grain of the wood, the line of the leaf, the depth of the undercut all record a study and a hand, and no two are ever the same. The studio doesn’t sell a mass-produced object. It delivers a finished carving with the scholarship, the design, and a lifetime of skill behind it. Every piece also keeps a little of a centuries-old art from being lost.

Every Carving Commission starts with a conversation.

Tell me about your project: a single ornament or a full architectural scheme.

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