Etsurō Sotoo arrived in Barcelona in 1978, a classically trained Japanese sculptor who became captivated by the Sagrada Família. He began working there as a stonecutter, and over time, the eccentricity he initially perceived in Gaudí’s forms gave way to a sense of coherence. What had once seemed merely decorative revealed itself as the outward expression of a spiritual worldview, rooted in a vision of nature as sacred structure. At 37, Sotoo converted to Catholicism, the faith that had inspired Gaudí’s vision. Rather than merely reproduce Gaudí’s designs, he committed himself to their inner necessity. His task became to approach the work from its point of origin, where beauty and intention converge, guided by the same illumination that brought them into being.
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