Local Experience: Stonemasonry Mini Workshop Tour

Local Experience Stonemasonry Tour lets you experience the trade of local stonemasons firsthand and finish making your stone gift to take home.

The tour starts with a short presentation about the history of stone processing on the island of Brač. In front of us for the presentation, we have a large stone block, a more than a hundred-year-old stone cutter as an example of stone processing and historical use, and a variety of raw stone materials ready to be converted into finished products.

After that, we proceed with a tour of the stonemasonry workshop and a presentation of the machines we use for production. We start with the saw through which every stone piece passes to be further processed on one of the machines. After the saw, we observe older machines like a lathe for processing all cylindrical turned products, a column drill, a polisher for polishing turned products, and a pantograph (a manual precursor to modern CNC machines).

Next, we visit another, smaller saw where we focus on Zero Waste technology, maximizing the use of stone and waste from the large saw by cutting them into cubes for making jewelry beads.

The last stonemasonry room is dedicated to modern technology. Here, we have a production line for stone beads where we demonstrate how we turn that large block outside into small 4 to 12-mm beads used for making authentic jewelry such as earrings, bracelets, and necklaces. Alongside bead production, we introduce you to a CNC machine, a piece of modern technology used for processing 2D and 3D reliefs and linear products, as well as a digital UV printer that prints directly on stone using the most modern technology.

After going through the stonemasonry workshop and modern machine stone processing, we return to the origins and foundations of our traditional stone processing, to the ancient Greek and Roman hand stone processing that persists on the island to this day and is highly valued as a stone finish.

You will also receive a piece of semi-finished stone to give it a final finish and take home as a souvenir, and a precious reminder of our island and your time spent with us.