The road to the sleepy Spanish town of Castilblanco de los Arroyos is not well travelled. A 40-minute drive from Seville through rolling hills and fields of swaying barley, it is a pastoral route almost exclusively limited to locals. At least for now. The workshop of leather artisan Javier Menacho might change all that. A peaceful space where light filters through trails of incense smoke and quiet piano music plays in the background, the atelier is strewn with the tools of his leatherworking trade – saddles, bags and sketches – and the walls are lined with cutters, mallets and awls, some of which he makes himself. Watching Menacho at work is mesmerising, his eyes intensely focused on the leather as he scores and cuts. Remarkably, he never intended to be a leather artisan. A keen horse rider, he had originally wanted a career in equestrianism, but when the school entry exam didn’t go as planned, he instead embarked on a course focused on saddlery. It was a good choice: so accomplished is Menacho’s handiwork that it has transitioned from the local stables to the global catwalk, carrying the spirit of its roots with it – most notably, Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri asked Menacho to create Lady Dior and Saddle bags for the maison’s 2023 Cruise Collection. When the line debuted in Seville, it also shone a spotlight on Menacho and the growing community of artisans who consider the Andalusian capital their muse. It is a place that has long held its craftspeople in high regard and which continues to treasure their creations –the only surprise about its newfound global attention is that the rest of the world has taken so long to notice. Seville is a place of passions and dualities, where the sacred and the mundane meet daily. Its two major festivals take place in the spring and showcase this tension: the buttoned-up religiosity of the Semana Santa, or holy week, is followed two weeks later by the non-stop eating, drinking and dancing of the Feria de Abril fair. Both are showcases for the artisans. At the latter, smart jackets and ties, impossibly chic equestrian wear and brightly coloured flamenco dresses, all frills and ruffles and polka dots, are the outfits du jour, tailored by designers like the veteran Pilar Vera (pilarveratienda.es) who has been making dresses for the feria for 45 years and boasts an astonishing ability to make the traditional garb feel both timeless and timely. The canopies and clothing that adorn the floats and statues of the Semana Santa processions are similarly artisan-driven. Nearly every textile is hand-embroidered in unassuming workshops, like that of Francisco Carrera Iglesias, better known as Paquili (carreraiglesias.es). His small team of artisans creates, reproduces and restores pieces of sacred art using threads of pure gold and silver with techniques that have remained largely unchanged for centuries. The resulting works are considered treasures of the city. But away from the big festivals, there are many other artisans throughout Seville who are combining tradition, modernity and unconventionality. In a tiny workshop on a narrow street in the neighbourhood of San Marcos, Rosario Andrade and Eva Pozuelo spend their days crocheting. In 2012, the pair founded Hilando el Tiempo (hilandoeltiempo.com), meaning “weaving time”, stepping away from careers in engineering and linguistics to embrace their love of the craft. “We like working with unusual materials like milk fibre, recycled cotton, raffia and rope,” says Pozuelo. While the techniques and tools may be traditional – Pozuelo learned to crochet at her grandmother’s side at the age of seven – the approach is completely contemporary, incorporating geometric shapes and structured textures into handmade clothing, bags and jewellery. The designs are firmly rooted in Seville, with inspiration coming from “travels and nature, the light, colours and fragrances of Andalusia, and from designs on tiles we’ve found throughout the city, and then modernised”. Hilando el Tiempo’s pieces have been worn by models as diverse as a statue in this year’s Semana Santa procession and Spain’s 2023 Eurovision Song Opposite, clockwise from top left: Hilando el Tiempo founders Eva Pozuelo (left) and Rosario Andrade at their shop; one of the pair’s chic raffia pieces; multimedia artists Daniel Maldonado (left) and Luciano Galán of The Exvotos; some of their history-inspired objects; rows of rounded hat crowns at the Fernández y Roche factory; one of its milliners at work; the colourful festivities at the annual Feria de Abril celebration; Javier Menacho (centre image) adds intricate detailing to one of his leather creations 54 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
PHOTOS FROM TOP AND LEFT: NICOLA CHILTON (5), BEN SCHOTT (4); PREVIOUS SPREAD: BEN SCHOTT CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 55
