“Spanish crafts have two realities. The true hallmark of our country is what is made by hand. But the master craftsmen , the living treasures and the guardians of the identity of our country are about to disappear”, he explains resoundingly Thomas Alia , architect and designer at the head of study gosh and that is now also behind Casa Alía, an association that seeks to improve the creative conditions of artisans and promote their art both inside and outside Spain.
While Alía is an ambassador for Talavera ceramics and a cultural ambassador for the Michelangelo Foundation, his mother, Nugget Alia , is the maximum promoter of the work of Lizard, in Toledo , so the designer has closely watched how a trade and an art so particularly Spanish is seeing its extinction... at the same time that he begins to experience a resurgence.
“My mother is 91 years old and she still wants to support this tradition.” What Cecilio Rodriguez , a living treasure at 99 years old and owner of the legacy of Fajalauza, in Granada . "He tells me: 'If I die, 400 years of tradition will be buried with me and this cannot be,'" shares Alía, who compares this same situation with the work of the bolillos of Galicia, the gold embroidery in Seville, exclusive pieces made by hand, slowly, and that create a bond with whoever owns them.
Table linen from Lagartaera, in Toledo.
In addition to being an online platform in which to acquire pieces of Talavera or Manises pottery, glazed earthenware tableware from Úbeda, baskets of esparto , tablecloths lizard or furniture such as Aragonese poplar wood chairs, Casa Alía goes beyond a mere sale incorporating the training of young people and the promotion of talent as one of the fundamental premises of its reason for being.
“The same thing that gastronomy did through the Basque Culinary Center for the great chefs to have regulated training is what we would like to achieve with craftsmanship: training and new apprentices who go hand in hand with the great masters”.
Casa Alía is aware that handicrafts and crafts abound in our country, but it is the mastery and excellence that the project seeks to protect , supporting them with an e-commerce so that they multiply their production and manage to stay afloat. To find those who would make up his portfolio, he made a map of all of Spain, visiting and getting to know the masters and their workshops.
“I have been very surprised and for good by the new talents that we meet, like some young people that I met in Segovia and who propose a wonderful contemporary pottery . or that new Bauhaus that is being set up in Europe with handmade crafts as one of its bases”, indicates Aliá of a trade and artistic work that, in addition to being tradition, is sustainable , based on the reuse of leftover product, avoiding contamination and that it can even repopulate Spain with manufacturing.
“There are many good messages from crafts and the most important is preserve our identity. Without him, there is no Spain brand”.
Clay jar with decorated base.
When in doubt as to whether it will be possible for the traditional crafts of our country not to disappear, Alía is positive: "We have awakened, for the moment, the curiosity of politicians . Craftsmanship is not culture, it is industry. And it has been possible to go from talking about fashion and gastronomy to talking about what is made by hand”, he explains.
With support and help, the mastery will be maintained and, if all goes well, Alía promises that they will fight for it to be built a university in Toledo to nurture talent.