While you are staying in our hotel, you will have well worth trip to see the showroom and the artisans at work at our Cam Carving and Handicraft.
We specializing in stone carving, creating beautiful, traditional stone work; they are known as the “Masters of stone carving. They also offer a wide selection of very high quality woodcarvings and silver art, as well as more modern paintings of Cambodian life.
Wood and stone carving
The art of stone carving goes back to the glorious epoch of the Khmer empire and its monumental constructions that gave rise to the Angkor temples. Like the work of craftsmen from previous centuries, stone carving is done on sandstone. Cam Carving & Art Souvenir mainly uses sandstone from Siem Reap province.
As for wood sculpture, the types of trees are selected based on ancient woodwork found in buildings, small furniture items and pagoda ornamentation. Cam Carving & Art Souvenir uses precious timber for some items in its collection but the majority of the wood used is from the Béng tree, notably for lacquered and gilded items.
The artisans start by rough-hewing the pre-cut blocks of stone or wood to come up as closely as possible with the shape of the final statue or carving. The artisan next begins the actual work of sculpturing or ornamentation, using ancestral techniques, right up to finishing the statue. This final stage requires the use of abrasive materials, sandpaper and water to remove any remaining tool marks and finely smooth off the sculpture.
Each artisan has his own way of working, some going about their carving with gentle movements while others are more firm. The result is that each piece is truly unique. It is produced, not by a molding, but by the patience of an artisan who becomes, through long hours of patient work, a real artist. In a sense, each piece bears the mark of the artisan who produced it.
