Andrian Melka

Andrian Melka began studying Art and Sculpture at the age of ten, graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana in 1994. After graduation he spent two years copying antique heads and reliefs in a marble workshop in Albania. He moved to England in 1997 with a Getty scholarship and spent a year at the Building Crafts College in London where he was awarded the City Guilds Silver Medal for Excellence and granted the Freedom of Carpenters Company and the Freedom of the City of London. He then moved to York to work as Head Sculptor with the renowned carver Dick Reid,alongside several great designers and architects on many high profile commissions including the Jubilee Fountain on Sandringham Estate erected to commemorate The Queens Golden Jubilee and figures of Christ and Madonna for St Mungos Church in Glasgow. Andrian opened his own studio near York in 2003 taking on a wide range of commissions in the UK and America. His clients have included: Lord Rothschild, HRH The Prince of Wales, Lord Conrad Black, Lord Halifax and Fred Landman. Since his early days studying figurative sculpture at high school Andrian has continually strived to explore the timeless fascination which the human form holds. Over the years he has utilised many different mediums and styles but since moving to the UK his work has focussed on marble, stone and bronze. He relishes the distinct challenges of both making realistic figures, as well as abstractions based on the human form. Attention to ... show more

Andrian Melka began studying Art and Sculpture at the age of ten, graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana in 1994. After graduation he spent two years copying antique heads and reliefs in a marble workshop in Albania. He moved to England in 1997 with a Getty scholarship and spent a year at the Building Crafts College in London where he was awarded the City Guilds Silver Medal for Excellence and granted the Freedom of Carpenters Company and the Freedom of the City of London. He then moved to York to work as Head Sculptor with the renowned carver Dick Reid,alongside several great designers and architects on many high profile commissions including the Jubilee Fountain on Sandringham Estate erected to commemorate The Queens Golden Jubilee and figures of Christ and Madonna for St Mungos Church in Glasgow. Andrian opened his own studio near York in 2003 taking on a wide range of commissions in the UK and America. His clients have included: Lord Rothschild, HRH The Prince of Wales, Lord Conrad Black, Lord Halifax and Fred Landman. Since his early days studying figurative sculpture at high school Andrian has continually strived to explore the timeless fascination which the human form holds. Over the years he has utilised many different mediums and styles but since moving to the UK his work has focussed on marble, stone and bronze. He relishes the distinct challenges of both making realistic figures, as well as abstractions based on the human form. Attention to

detail and the right finish are also very important to Andrian and something he takes great pride in. However, he approaches his work very differently from most other studios, working directly in stone without the need for full-size models in the same way Michelangelo would have done.