Alex Wenham has done it again! His project in Schiff sandstone (pictured on the right) was judged the best at the European Stone Festival held at the weekend (23-25 May) in Freiburg, Germany. He also won the competition last year, when the European Stone Festival was held in Lincoln.

The Festival is now so popular that this year 50 would-be competitors had to be turned away because the number of entrants has to be limited to 150 because of the space and facilities available.  

Alex says on his Facebook page: "This weekend I retained my title as winner of the European Stone Festival carving competition in Freiburg. Rather pleased about that. The theme was 'flora and fauna of the Black Forest'. 17 hours carving."

Alex is a British stone carver who has been living in Paris and working at the prestigious 3D Pierre carving workshop for the past eight years, although he will shortly be returning to the UK to settle in Oxford. He says on his website that for the rest of 2014 he is going to have a stint as a stay-at-home-dad while he finds himself a workshop to re-start his UK carving business. "I expect to be operational offering stone carving services to meet any needs from early 2015."    

He describes his work as "sharp, accurate, and carried out at a speed to challenge the very fastest in the profession". So if you are looking for a skilled stone carver, he would be happy to hear from you (his email address is below).

There will be a report from the Festival in the July issue of Natural Stone Specialist magazine.