A connection to our community and profound respect for tradition.
We are making history. We are proudly paying homage and respect to the art of Fossil Stonecraft Furniture as a Filipino created craftsmanship.
For many years, the art of Fossil Stone Furniture was sold throughout the world without the transparency of its origin.
Our community, culture and artisans were pushed into the shadows.
These are the hands, faces and families of our people.
Our community of highly skilled artisans.
From the hand quarried cultivation of our materials to the carpentry and carving of the stone. Every single aspect of this craft is hand made. The heart and soul of our makers can be felt in every piece.
For the first time, this incredible craftsmanship is represented by Filipino heritage, my own heritage. I have my very own family in these workshops, creating our designs. My personal connection to the journey is incredibly deep. I have hugged, held and cried with our community, felt the positive impact of our business and the gratitude towards our vision.
We are proudly celebrating the Philippines, the incredible skill of our craftsman and woman and embracing the natural resources this beautiful country has to offer.
It is with great pride that I have the honour of sharing this journey with you.
Founder & Director
Deep in the mountain, white limestone can be found, amongst the green lush surrounds. A soft and porous material, its resources are limited. Visiting the quarry site is surprising, the disturbance to its surrounds is absolutely minimal. It is quiet and peaceful, the air is warm with a cool breeze swaying through the palm trees.
There is a small school and community living in the region, the quiet atmosphere lights ups with the voices of their banter and bubbly hum of laughter. Their fathers work during the day cultivating our stone, the children play games with sticks and hiding behind trees.
Native to this region, Ronaldo has been quarrying stone for 30 years. It’s with humbling gratitude he has sustained an income to support his family.
A short drive away from the quarry, the cultivated stone is brought to a sorting site. Each boulder is inspected for its purity or imperfections. Larger stones are broken down into hand sizeable pieces ready for carving.
Each and every tile is hand carved with only the intuition of hand touch feel as a guide.
It’s quite incredible to see the perfection of the lines and unison of the shapes knowing not even a ruler is used to measure the tile.
A stark contrast to the white dust from the stonework, the carpentry workshop glows with the warmth of the timber. The workshop hums with the sound of the tools and alights with the loud coo’s from the roosters rummaging around outside.
The skill of our carpenters is impressive and watching them work is captivating. We are ignited with inspiration as we witness the first form of the design taking shape.
Before Typhoon Odette, this site stood tall with the original refining workshop. Now a skeleton reminder remains where our fiberglass moulds are set for the rounded designs. The sun pours over them, where the roof would have once sheltered, creating a dramatic and sculptural beauty.
Here, it’s heart warming to find a family working closely together. Alejando and his wife Rachel and her Son Ariel, his wife Roxanne and their little boy, Kenjie. Who is quietly sitting by his Mama’s side playing with a toy car whilst she patiently cuts small squares of fiberglass fabric with scissors for her husband to align to the mould that will soon create our Paradis Mirror design.
It’s a kind of magic to see the stone take it’s place on the form of the design, suddenly everything makes sense. One by one the craftsman will patiently sand and shape the stone tile to perfectly fit it’s place. Every form is irregular and every piece is unique.
Deep inside the mountain, surrounded by the hills and trees is a small workshop owned by Lisel and Jerry. Here they create En Gold designs with their sons and family, sharing the skill of the craft through the generations. After experiencing the downfall over 10 years ago, it was emotional to reflect with them about all of the things we have achieved together reigniting this beautiful craft.
The refining stage is a delicate and intricate process. It’s where the final touches are made before each piece is wrapped up and packaged for its new home. Seeing all the recognisable designs lined up in a row is exciting and watching the workmanship with attention to detail really creates a sense of appreciation for this long journey each individual piece has travelled.
Fatima travels 2 hours everyday to come to the workshop. Her job is to finely sand any imperfections and delicately add the final finishing touches, she enjoys working with her hands and creating beautiful furniture that will find it’s home somewhere far away across the world.
Each and every piece tells a story of the journey it has travelled through the many hands that skilfully and lovingly have crafted it. The dips, irregularities and imperfections all create a unique story, the fingerprint of its maker.
Part of the story of this craft was the era of its downfall. Once this region was bustling with stonecraft workshops, feeding the French, US and Italian brands trending the roman stone aesthetic of the 80’s and 90’s. The problem with trends is that they die. And sadly for this region, this means interiors shifted focus onto the next best thing. Workshops closed and families were left with no income heightened in light of the Global Economic Crisis. It had been 10 or more years since many of their doors had closed when En Gold came along, we had discovered this craft and saw it with a fresh new perspective.
We learnt the story and we shared the passion. We reignited the industry and opened the doors. Between 2020 and 2022 we generated more than 120 jobs and we were able to offer those craftsman their trade back. This has become our “why”. Supporting this region is at the core of everything we do and we hope to share this with you so that you may understand the origins of your piece and hopefully treasure it for many years to come.
