Carve Your Vision by Empar Juanes

Join us this July for an immersive week of contemporary jewellery making in the heart of the Valencian countryside. Together with a small group of fellow creatives, you’ll explore the full process—from concept development to the creation of your own final piece in stone.

Held in a beautifully restored 200-year-old house that doubles as artist Empar Juanes’ home and studio, this retreat blends hands-on practice, artistic exploration, and shared inspiration. Whether you're an experienced maker or an enthusiastic beginner, the workshop invites you to slow down and engage deeply with stone as a medium of expression.

Led by Empar—an artist with over 9 years of stone carving experience and a background in architecture—you’ll receive step-by-step guidance in using professional stone carving tools and techniques, all within a fully equipped and inspiring workshop.

What You Will Learn:

• Stone carving fundamentals: We will learn to use the stone carving machinery to be able to cut, carve and polish gemstones in two different approaches; a geometric and a more fluid and organic one.
• Artistic process: Gain practical skills while experimenting with how stone can be transformed into a unique expression of your artistic vision.

What We Offer:

• Expert Guidance: Receive personal support from Empar Juanes, finalist for the Loewe Craft Prize 2025 and recipient of the Herbert Hofmann Prize 2024 at Munich’s Schmuck.
• Inspiring Environment: Our retreat is set in a calm countryside location, perfect for sparking creativity and finding artistic inspiration.
• Shared Living: Stay in a welcoming home with only four participants—inspiring conversations, shared meals, and true community.
• Nourishing Food: Enjoy delicious, healthy Mediterranean cuisine prepared daily.
• Meaningful Dialogue: Engage in thoughtful discussions about art, creativity, and process with like-minded individuals.

Location: Llombai, Valencia.

Dates: July 7-13th, 2025. (Arriving Sunday afternoon, leaving Sunday afternoon).

Included: Accommodation in shared double rooms, all meals, transfers from and to the airport/train station and workshop. Basic stones for practice will be provided. Participants are required to bring their own selected stones for developing their personal project.

Group Size: Limited to 4 participants for a personalised and focused experience.

Languages: English, Spanish, German.

Deadline: 30th June.

To book your spot: Please send us an email with a short motivation letter and a few images of your work. Due to the limited number of spots, participants will be carefully selected.

Price: 1650 €.

In this Instagram video, Empar tells you everything about the workshop—Follow @pedracasaestudi for photos and behind-the-scenes updates.

For more information and reservations, contact us at pedracasaestudi@gmail.com.


About Empar Juanes:
Empar Juanes has developed her professional career on two very different scales: one in architecture and the other more intimate and personal, dedicated to contemporary jewelry.

This year, Empar Juanes has been selected as a finalist for the Loewe Craft Prize which award ceremony will take place the 29th May in Museum Thyssen in Madrid. In 2024, she was also honoured with the prestigious Herbert Hofmann Prize, presented during the celebrated Schmuck exhibition at the Internationale in Munich.

She patiently selects and opens raw stones, to find one that has enough size, uniformity, absence of veins, inclusions, or fractures, suitable for a three-dimensional work. Taking great risks, she cuts each stone with precise accuracy, followed by a meditative carving process where her deep understanding of geometry guides her hands into fluid movements. Through this careful craftsmanship, she pushes the material boundaries of stone, transforming it into ethereal, almost immaterial jewelry pieces.

After spending a decade living abroad between Germany and the Netherlands, combining her practice between architecture and art, in 2022 she returned to her village near València and renovated a 200-year-old house, transforming it into her home and studio where she founded PEDRA, an educational project about stone carving and contemporary jewelry.