Raul Frausto is a family man, with a son serving in the Army who is stationed in Afghanistan right now. He resides in Hyannis, but runs a stone engraving and stone fabrication business from a small shop in Chatham. This is his story of Cape Cod and how he came to love these sandy shorelines.

“I am from Central Mexico, just south of Mexico City. Near the Pacific Coast. I emigrated from Mexico. At first I came to visit and I ended up staying here. I ended up going back to Mexico a couple of times and I returned, got a visa, started working and then after that I just decided to stay. It's a better life here. My aunt lived here before I, and she had been here before so she told me about the opportunities. I started to work at the Chatham Bars Inn, and then it was mainly reason was to work here.”

Raul spent a bit at the Chatham Bars Inn. It was good money. He desired more out of life than what was given to him there, and in 2002 took a job at Cape Cod Stone.

“I started as a yard tender. Forklift operator. They bought an engraving company and they started buying more that deviated from the stone industry such as the stone fabrication. And then I learned there.”

He went up to Vermont to learn about the art of stone engraving so he could apply this skill Cape Cod Stone. As he honed his craft more and more, he felt confident in venturing out on his own to build his own business, and serve a large clientele for a niche market. He spoke about this and the next words were profound.

“When starting a job, in the beginning you feel too comfortable working those jobs because they don’t require a lot of skill and knowledge. Try to go beyond that. Try to find a meaning and purposes for you and your life. Not for this job because you’re going to get old and get stuck. You might not have enough time to have a better life for yourself and the people around you.”

Constant forward progression. No matter how hard the challenge. Life to Raul is about pushing himself out of his comfort zone to find new challenges and to grow in his craft and life. Taking risks is how he chooses to live his life, and his work parallels this theory. If you were to ask him about the hard times he would only come back at you with the ample amount of opportunities there are out there for people to look at and conquer. He would tell you to grab life and chase your dreams. Life is but some rotations around the sun, and is too short to bury your wildest ideas and desires.

Opportunities were abound for him. He has an incredible can do attitude and a thirst for knowledge. There is an urge to always push forward and be better. His shop not only shows the pieces of his craft, but books about art, sculpture and stonework.

And as for why he enjoys living on Cape Cod?

“I do like it here. I enjoy it. Even though I don’t like the beach I like everything else, I do like to see the ocean and the water. It helps me meditate where I look at the water and all the space. I like the peacefulness of this area. I like it a lot. It's nice. I wish there was more of these projects around the Cape. We need Artsy ideas. I know there is a lot of people doing a lot of different kinds of arts that aren’t brought out to the general public, such as what I do and Joren does. Stone engraving, stone carvers. It would be nice to see people come up with other ideas to show and to craft.”

To see a lot of Raul’s work, you can follow him on his Instagram. And his work is amazing.