PETRA SOMA — Stone Remembers. We Reveal What It Holds.

QUARRY COORDINATES
Carrara: 44°4'N 10°6'E
Lasa: 46°37'N 10°42'E
Sardinia: 39°45'N 9°5'E

— The Stone Speaks

Every Block Contains a Form.

PETRA SOMA works exclusively in hand-selected granite, marble, and schist — materials chosen not for availability but for geological personality. Each stone has a biography that predates civilisation.

Carrara Statuario

44°4'N 10°6'E — Apuan Alps, Italy

The stone of Michelangelo and Canova. White ground with delicate grey veining. Maximum translucency at 35mm depth. Geologic age: 230 million years.

Triassic Period · Metamorphic marble

Lasa Bianco

46°37'N 10°42'E — Val Venosta, South Tyrol

Purest white marble known. Near-zero crystalline grain. Preferred for portrait work — skin tone at depth unrivalled by any other stone.

Late Palaeozoic · Metamorphic marble

Sardinian Granite

39°45'N 9°5'E — Barbagia Region

Coarse-grained granodiorite. Resists weathering for millennia. Used for architectural commissions requiring outdoor permanence. Crystalline density: 2.7 g/cm³.

Carboniferous Period · Igneous granite

— Portfolio

Works of Permanence

Stone type, dimensions, carving hours, and year. No prices are displayed. Owners anonymous unless permission is granted.

Carrara Statuario · 2023

Portrait of the Unnamed

Life-size bust · 48 × 34 × 32 cm · 640 carving hours

Lasa Bianco · 2024

Architectural Fragment

Relief panel · 120 × 80 × 14 cm · 280 hrs

Sardinian Granite · 2022

Garden Obelisk

Freestanding · 220 cm height · 380 hrs

Carrara · 2025

Fireplace Surround

Architectural installation · 8 months

Schist · 2024

Memorial Stone

Site-specific · Custom dimensions · 520 hrs

— The Studio

The Three Carvers

PETRA SOMA is the work of three named individuals. Each brings a distinct tool philosophy and material specialty. Their collaboration defines what we can accept.

Carver I — Senior Partner

Marco Bellini

Specialty: Portrait & Figure / Marble

Trained at the Accademia di Belle Arti, Carrara. Forty years working exclusively with Statuario marble. Known for skin-depth portrait realism and the ability to find stillness in stone.

Preferred tools: Point · Claw · Flat chisel in sequence

Carver II — Senior Partner

Sigrid Thorvald

Specialty: Architectural Relief / Granite

Oslo School of Architecture then twenty years as a structural engineer before returning to hand carving. Speaks the language of load-bearing stone. Architectural commissions of scale are her domain.

Preferred tools: Bouchard · Diamond grinder · Hand-guided

Carver III — Junior Partner

Ryu Nakamura

Specialty: Abstract Form / Mixed Stone

Trained under a Kyoto traditional sculptor before coming to Italy. Merges Eastern contemplative abstraction with classical Western technique. Works in unexpected materials — schist, limestone, volcanic tuff.

Preferred tools: Air chisel · Rasps · Final hand-polished

— Honest Time

Time Required

We disclose the honest time scale of our work. Time is not a constraint — it is the medium. A work requires as long as it requires. We do not negotiate downward.

A portrait bust, life-size

In Carrara Statuario marble. Hand-carved throughout, no mechanical surface finishing. Skin texture developed with riffler and raked light inspection at each stage.

4–6

Months

A fireplace surround

Full architectural installation — mantle, pilasters, frieze, hearth. Stone selection, quarry visit, template making, carving, delivery and installation by our team.

6–8

Months

A garden sculpture, abstract

Freestanding exterior work in granite or schist. Includes stone scouting at quarry, structural engineering assessment for long-term stability, carving, and installation.

8–12

Months

A commemorative memorial

Site-specific work requiring survey, planning consultation, stone selection travel, and extended carving. Inscription hand-cut with letter chisels only — no sandblasting.

10–16

Months

An architectural frieze

Running narrative relief for a facade, entrance hall, or interior wall. Multiple panels, continuous composition. Our most complex and time-intensive commission type.

18–24

Months

— Case Studies

Selected Commissions

Carrara Statuario · 2023 · Private Estate, England

The Long Hall Frieze

Stone: Carrara Statuario
Dimensions: 18m × 0.6m continuous
Duration: 22 months
Carving hours: 3,200+

A narrative frieze depicting four generations of a family estate in relief. Began with historical research, then sketch, then 1:10 clay model, then transfer to stone. Delivered and installed in five sections, jointed in wax.

Lasa Bianco · 2024 · Private Collection, Zürich

Portrait of the Collector

Stone: Lasa Bianco
Dimensions: Life-size · 58 × 38 × 35 cm
Duration: 5 months
Carving hours: 680

A commission of unusual personal intensity — the subject wished to see their own form revealed from stone while they were alive. Eleven studio sessions. The portrait records a specific afternoon in March.

Sardinian Granite · 2022 · Public Gardens, Oslo

The Standing Stone

Stone: Sardinian Granite
Dimensions: 280 × 60 × 50 cm, monolithic
Duration: 10 months
Carving hours: 490

A single monolithic granite column for a memorial garden. No inscription — the commissioner requested permanent silence. The form is slightly irregular, referencing natural standing stones. Will outlast every person alive today.

— What We Hold

The Studio's Principles

Revelation, not fabrication

We do not impose form on stone. We read the stone to discover what it already contains. The chisel removes what is not the sculpture. What remains is what was always there.

II.

Time is the medium

Speed is the enemy of stone carving. Each millimetre removed cannot be returned. We work at the pace the stone demands. We accept four to six commissions per year. This is not a constraint — it is honesty.

III.

The work outlives us all

A properly executed work in granite or marble will exist for three thousand years. We approach each commission with this responsibility. What we carve today will be examined by people who have not been born. We do not rush for them.

— Invitation to Commission

If You Have a Project That Requires Permanence

PETRA SOMA accepts 4–6 new commissions per year. Works accepted by invitation. Write to us.

We do not take commissions from a catalogue or a price list. Each project begins with a conversation — its nature, its location, the stone it calls for, and the time it deserves. If the project aligns with what we make, we will accept it.

We ask only that you write with sincerity about what you wish to create and why it should be made in stone.

Write To Us

audience@petrasoma.com

No forms. No phone calls. Written correspondence only.
We respond within 21 days.
No pricing discussed on first contact.