a lasting tradition
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 at 8:10AM on a sleepy afternoon, just after the siesta hours - i paid a visit to a family run, family tradition of authentic textile patterning in Santa Maria, Mallorca. we were welcomed at the door by a gentle eyed elderly father who soon spoke to us of how his grandfather had passed down the tricks of trade from generation to generation.
these Mallorquin patterns are visceral in my childhood memory. they are graphic in their form and their shapes are marked in my memory ever since a little girl vacationing in Mallorca. today, these patterns grace the pages of all the worldly design magazines, with mentions in keynote Mallorcan vacation homes of some celebrities we will keep anonymous.
the elderly gentleman guided me back through the street level of their home and in the back, the room opened up to mill and textile fabrication center itself. a line of about seven mills take up one room and the other is dedicated to spooling and dying the cotton and linen fibers. all threads are hand dyed and the markings of this process saturate a stained wall in a Rothko-like composition.
in the world we inhabit nowadays, it was such a pleasure to see that time and tradition has a lasting impression and a lasting imprint. Artensia Textil Busjosa is a small existence but by no means insignificant. the tradition and the work is of the highest level and in a way, I hope it remains a little unnoticed so it may keep its integrity intact for a long time to come.
