From Vicenza to the Statenkwartier

Since 2005

Robert de Jong was 24 when he left for Italy in 2001, with a plastering diploma in his pocket and little idea of what lime could do. At a restoration workshop near Vicenza he spent three years on palazzi and villas where the plaster was sometimes four hundred years old. He learned to apply marmorino, to age lime putty and, above all, to wait until a coat is ready.

In 2005 he started his own firm in The Hague. The first job was a ceiling with a ceiling rose in a town house in the Statenkwartier. Through the owners came the neighbour, and through the neighbour half the street. Most of the work still comes from the Statenkwartier, Duinoord and Benoordenhout.

We believe plastering should stay a craft. No shortcuts, no fast-drying chemicals that will crack in ten years. Instead, lime putty aged for at least two years, coats that get their full drying time and techniques that last a hundred years. 'Lime won't be rushed,' as Robert puts it. The team is now him, three permanent plasterers and an apprentice every year.

started in The Hague

2005

years of training in Italy

3

finishes on our sample wall

40