José Manuel Alarcón has been selected by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation and INTBAU Spain as master craftsperson of the month for June 2025.
José Manuel Alarcón’s work as a plasterer is closely connected to the fields of decorative arts and historic heritage conservation. His training has been primarily artisanal and self-taught, although he also learned the trade alongside his older brother within the family business, Arte y Formas, based in Hondón de las Nieves.
His work begins on site, with the collection and classification of ornamental elements. From there, in the workshop, he moves on to reconstructing and carving the original pieces, producing molds and casings, reproducing the elements, and finally studying their installation on site. Over time, his methods have evolved in response to technical advances. Today, he uses fewer rigid molds than in the past and works with alternative materials—such as silicone—that make the impression process faster and more efficient.
You can discover more about his work and activity in his profile in the Spanish Network of Traditional Building Crafts Masters:
