ABARCA METAL

A family archive / The line continues.

Raúl
Abarca.

My father draws with iron.

I gather the traces of what he has made.

Raúl Abarca holds an iron crucifix in his workshop.
Raúl, in his workshop.
Browse the full archive ↗︎See his work

01 / Work

The line continues.

A curved staircase with an ornamental iron railing and a piano below.
Curved staircase

A door must open. A railing must hold. Raúl knows how to make them work.

But in his hands the line keeps going: it bends, curls, becomes leaves and shapes no one asked for.

An arched iron gate with scrollwork in front of a house.
Gate
An arched iron door with curved lines and ornaments.
Iron door

That is where I recognize my father. In everything he kept adding once the piece could already have been called finished.

02 / From drawing to iron

The line.
The form.
The iron.

On the workshop floor, a guitar drawn in chalk. In another photograph, its shape in metal.

Explore the archive ↗︎
The outline of a guitar with scrolls, drawn in chalk on the workshop floor.

Photograph of the chalk drawing on the workshop floor.

An outline traced from the photograph for this page. This is not an original drawing by Raúl.

A guitar-shaped metal object with strings and scrolls, lying on a sheet of metal.

The metal guitar, in an archive photograph.

03 / Archive

Archive

158 photographs of finished work, details and moments in the workshop. Choose a subject or search for a piece.

A place to explore his work, share it and return to it.

Browse the full archive

158 photographs · 12 categories

A table with a wood cross-section top and vine-shaped iron legs.
Bar table
An iron chess table with pieces and chairs.
Chess table
Workshop interior with tools, machinery and a mezzanine.
The workshop

Dad, this is for you.

From your son, Anders.

About Raúl ↗︎