Casa dos Artesans – Ribeira Sacra
Holiday cottage in rural Galicia (sleeps 2 - 5). Experience spectacular scenery, rural life, wine, art and Spanish craft. Learn basketry or textile weaving on holiday or visit the nearby craft workshops. "Lovely furnishings, colours ... and comfy beds" (client comment). |
   These charming mini-catalan baskets are ideal presents for your young kids or grandchildren – so they can harvest fruit and veg from the garden or even help mum and dad with the shopping!
Mini baskets include versions similar to the traditional Catalan mushrooming basket, the double “potato peeling” (pelapatas) basket. But Lluis will also be displaying a full-size bres basket, beloved of collectors but also still made to commission as a traditional basketry cradle. And unlike other models of cradle, the bres can also be used for storing toys and other things later on.
You can visit Lluis Grau at his stand at the Fira del Cistell en Salt, Gerona, on Saturday 6 y Sunday 7 October 2012. Girona, the city which has grown to absorb the town of Salt, has great transport links with its international airport and a visit to the fair can make the central point of a fun weekend break away, with typical catalan music, dancing, a display of the scary “human towers” or “castells” and other attractions. But be warned – there is always a tempting array of baskets on exhbition so bring a large bag with you!
Lluis´ new basketry book – Lluis also hopes to be able to have copies of his new book available for sale at the fair. The book, co-authored by Anna Champeney and published by the Basketmakers´ Association with financial assistance from the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers, is about the very attractive wooden basketry tradition of Los Ancares in Galicia, north Spain. Another treat for basket lovers, this book includes a practical section on how to make these wonderfully elegant split wood baskets.
- Where: The old quarter of Salt, Girona
- When: Primer fin de semana de octubre – 6 y 7 de octubre 2012.
- Products: Baskets from Spain and internationally
- Featured basketmaker: Lluis Grau
- Web: www.lluisgrau.com
- Contact: T.669 600 620.
Next basketry course with Lluis Grau at his workshop in rural northwest Spain (nearest train station: Monforte de Lemos)
3 & 4 November – Beginners´ basketry in willow
More information – contact Lluis via email
Eco-friendly fabrics from Spain
 Barberry bark, one source of local and natural colour at Anna Champeney Estudio Textil (April 2012)
Barberry bark, madder root, dried cochineal and walnut husks are all sources of natural colour used to create the textiles at the weave studio of textile designer Anna Champeney in north Spain. The studio´s collections include limited edition double-weave linens, double-sided scarves in richly-coloured silk and wool, and a range of linen and wool textiles for interiors, including cushions, storage bags and decorative wall-dividers. The designs vary with each collection but what unites all these textiles is the rich and harmonious use of natural colour.
The reality is that the colours produced by natural dyes are different to most synthetic dyes today because the complex formulas of natural plant dyes - a single plant may contain several dyes which combine to produce a particularly rich or subtle colour – are usually too expensive to produce in the context of industrial textile production.
 Anna Champeney textile collection 2011-12 - waffle weave scarves in silk and wool with natural dyes
This makes natural dyes the ideal choice for certain designers and specialist artisans who seek to produce a high-end product and who also care about the way that textiles are made today and the impact on the natural world.
“I started working with natural dyes as it seemed the obvious choice given the location of the textile studio in rural north Spain where there was an abundance of natural dyestuffs. Of course, I was also interested in making a more organic or natural product. For me this meant sourcing dyestuffs as locally as possible, using processes which were efficient, with little waste, and avoiding chrome as a fixative ” commented Champeney.
 Drying yarns dyed with lichen, gorse, indigo and madder at Anna Champeney Estudio Textil in north Spain
The quality of the colours produced was also a factor. “As a textile designer and craft weaver you often find yourself limited by the commercial colour ranges. By dyeing my own colours I can achieve incredibly varied and subtle colour blends which lend a special quality to the finished textiles. This gives me a certain freedom which industrial designers simply do not have”.
Marta Bahillo – Spanish knit designer – opts for natural dyes
 Marta Bahillo, Spansh knit designer, discovers the subtle colours of natural dyes
Marta Bahillo, a young Spanish knit designer is also moving in this direction which was why she decided to spend time at AC Estudio Texil for some intensive colour tuition.
Working with natural dyes for the first time was nothing short of a revelation for this designer, whose working practice up until now always involved off-the-peg synthetically-coloured yarns. “I really feel the course has changed me because I see colour in a different way now”, commented Bahillo, “I can see subtle changes in tone which I didn´t notice before”. Moreover, Bahillo was particularly struck by the sheer variety and richness of the colours obtained using natural dyes. In the context of her work as a knit designer Bahillo sees definite advantages in being able to have a greater control over the final result. Working directly with the dyes gives her a far greater creative involvement in the process, leading her to comment “As a textile designer I feel more confident than before”.
Natural Dyes and Fashion
But what about the dictates of fashion which result in certain colours dominating the market every year. Is it important for these new designers to look at colour forecasts for fashion? Champeney thinks not. “My clients tend to have a confidence in their own sense of style and colour and choose colourways which suit them rather than to follow the dictates of the fashion industry. They may combine my textiles with clothing from branded fashion but their style is definitely an individual style which is unique to them. The challenge for independent designers or makers not to follow fashion but to make textiles which are so distinctive and beautiful that each piece becomes a personal classic in its own right”.
More information:
- Inquiries about Anna Champeney Estudio Textil´s limited edition textile collections – please contact the studio.
- Textilesnaturales hopes to feature Marta Bahillo again in a future feature.
 Anna Champeney (r) with weave pupil Ana Roman (l) being filmed by Televisión Gallega for the regional magazine programme "Great Places"
Yesterday and today the habitual tranquility and silence of the picturesque Galician hamlet of Cristosende was broken as the village was taken over by the film crew of TVG for the making of Grandes Lugares (Great Places), a regional magazine programme. Yesterday a good number of us villagers turned up at the old school, to share a glass of local wine, some empanada (traditional pie), and bread with a selection of cheeses and village-made chorizo and salchichón sausage, and explain to the film crew exactly what makes the village so special for us.
Is it the fact that the village has a stunning view over some of the most dramatic scenery in the Ribeira Sacra area of north Spain? Or that, in a village of only about 30 inhabitants, there are no fewer than 3 local businesses – the craft workshops with Casa dos Artesans holiday cottage, the Casa Grande rural hotel and bar, and Pepe´s bodega, Viña Perderneira. Or is it simply the fact that the village has a pretty good atmosphere, with neighbours always willing to help each other out?
This morning the film crew came to Anna Champeney Estudio Textil and Lluis Grau´s basketry workshop to conduct interviews, both with the local craftspeople themselves and Ana Roman, a weave student who explained how satisfying it was to weave her own soft alpaca scarf on a loom – and how relaxing it is too (except, of course, when 5 members of a film crew are filming you!).
Well, we´re not going to tell you anything else for now, but will post up the video link when we know the date of emission, and invite you to watch – and meet all our neighbours here in Cristosende.
Padded doubleweave textiles – Doubleweave tuition option now available – Weaving holidays for intermediate level weavers in Spain
 Photo of padded double weave fabric (Anna Champeney Estudio Textil Spain))
 Weaving "quilted" fabrics with 2 shuttles on a Louet table loom
Giving an interview whilst weaving doubleweave with two shuttles is no easy task – it´s like trying to whistle and hum at the same time (and I only know one person who can do that!), so the TV crew had to wait and watch a little until the moment came to stop weaving and insert the stuffing into the “pockets” and “tubes” created by the double weave! Weaving textiles on the loom in two layers opens the door to lots of magical and seemingly impossible options – from weaving a textile which is actually wider than the loom you are using to weaving a tube, to weaving two layers of fabric which intersect to create pockets – which can be filled with filling which gives you an effect rather like a quilted textile. Applications? Double weave is great for scarves and (using very fine yarns) for clothing fabrics which are really warm and insulating but which can still drape nicely, without feeling not lumpy or thick. But the thick quilted-effect double weave fabrics can also be used for thick padded jackets, cushion pads, bedcovers and upholstery fabrics. The only limit is your imagination.
Anna Champeney and Lluis Grau offer one-to-one tuition in their craft workshops and looms for hire to guests staying at their holiday cottage, Casa dos Artesans. Their availability as tutors in 2012 is already limited so you are advised to reserve the cottage and any tuition well in advance. Contact.
|
Holiday Craft Tuition in North Spain Learn the creative art of hand-weaving, natural dyeing and basketry in Galicia!
 For more info just click...
Beautiful surroundings, high quality tuition and a wide variety of course options.
|
English 
Español 