Artesanos Felipe Royo

A Family Blend of Artisans
by Pam North

Artesanos Felipe Royo are a group belonging to a Spanish family of professional artisans. From their surnames, Felipe and Royo, comes the name of the team. They have been engaged in 1:12 scale dollhouse miniatures since 1999, designing and producing miniatures for dollhouses. Several members of the family began the activity: Antonio Felipe and Pilar Royo (the parents), and Ana and Elena (their daughters). Fernando, Inma, and, occasionally Julian, have recently joined the group. Each of the members has a different professional background, vocational training, and job specialization, and their specialization in miniatures is also different. These specialties allow them to complement their work to attain the highest quality miniature art pieces for collectors. Furniture is made painstakingly by hand, from their own designs, trims, and hand-painted polychrome, Special orders and variations on some of their designs may be custom ordered. Their work is totally creative and handcrafted, done with utmost care, following manual techniques rendered in a very laborious process. Hardwoods are used, with the designs inspired from antique pieces. The needlework is made with high-quality materials, sometimes of antique vintage, sewn completely by hand, The decorations on the paintings, furniture, and ceramics are manually painted by brush, often requiring multi-step processes executed over several days. Because the pieces are all individually made, small differences occur, lending a unique charm, authenticity, and value to each object, with each a study in itself.
Antonio Felipe is the patriarch of the family. Although he always has been interested in handicrafts, since retiring 18 years ago, he has spent his time creating miniatures with his wife and children, making furniture and other wooden objects inspired from real life, and scaling them down to 1:12. Turning wood is his specialty; he often makes his own tools in order to turn the objects accurately. He uses only quality woods. At 84 years of age, he plans on continuing his craft as long as possible, enjoying the satisfaction his efforts bring.
Pilar Royo, wife of Antonio and mother of the other members of the team, specializes in beautifully crafted embroidery and sewing. She has a special talent for anything related to fabrics and needlework, and uses special design techniques handed down to her by her ancestors and recovered from antiques dealers. Needles and antique, high-quality laces and fabrics are what she enjoys working with most, and she has been making miniatures for 20 years. She also creates new patterns.
Ana Felipe Royo is a professional ceramist, engraver, and photographer who makes ceramic objects plates, pharmacy jars, wall tiles, and porcelain dolls (characters for the dollhouses), reproductions of miniature meals, decoration on some of the furniture, and she photographs the miniatures. She has made a career of advancing her learning and skills, and to work cohesively with the team. She teaches workshops in ceramics and engraving. The paintbrush is her favorite tool, and her favorite items to make are porcelain art nouveau items. She plans on making naughty schoolboy figures for an ancient school. One of her favorite miniatures is a dollhouse made by her mother and father. 
Elena Felipe Royo is a professional in decoration and painting, and he works decorating furniture, murals, and instruments for luthiers, the latter skill which is recognized at international level. In the group, he collaborates with the others on the decoration. He also designs, produces, and decorates small period toys, characters, paintings, dolls, and miniature instruments. He is proficient with a variety of tools, since his jobs are so varied, and he works with polymer paste, wood, fabric, and polychrome. He has been making miniatures for 18 years. He tries to improve his work every day, creating new types of miniatures, and he does intense historical research to determine exactly what type of object he wishes to produce, He enjoys creating environments and scenes that he likes, and is always coming up with new designs. He finds his work very rewarding. 
Fernando Felipe Royo collaborates with the group on wood crafts. He has learned from his father the art of turning wood, and also making furniture in miniature. He is a specialist in Art Nouveau furniture.
Inma Grau is a graphic designer who designs, assembles, and gives the furniture pieces their finishes. Grau’s stylistic specialty is Art Nouveau. Fernando and Inma have been making miniatures for 5 years, and constantly try to learn new skills. Designing and drilling are their favorite aspects of their craft. They pay careful attention to quality, taking their time to carefully craft each item without rushing. They enjoy the fulfillment their craftsmanship brings to themselves and those who purchase their items, and find their hobby relaxing.
All members of Artesanos Felipe Royo have a long history of developing their skills and specialties. 
The array of their work is large and varied, with a European country style. There are furniture pieces for dollhouse kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, and even chapels. Ceramics include dishes, mural tiles, vases and pottery, stoves and bathtubs. Fabric offerings encompass linens, tablecloths, curtains, bedspreads, mattresses, cushions. shawls, and clothes. Dolls include characters and children. Even complete miniature room scenes are available.
Examples of their work may be viewed at: http://artesanosfeliperoyo.com