How would you define your style? What makes it unmistakably yours?
My style is undoubtedly sculptural, organic, and deeply connected to material. We are constantly innovating; there is an ongoing search for movement, we work on that and on making our pieces convey emotions, because that is what allows us to connect with people. So I would say it is profoundly emotional.
How did you start working with esparto?
I discovered it by chance during a residency at Medialab-Prado, when it was still in Atocha, in that beautiful building. What few people know is that Atocha means esparto, and that where the train station now stands, where the old Medialab-Prado used to be, there was once an ancient esparto field. I arrived there, found this fiber, started studying the basic braiding techniques, and from there the whole journey began. To this day it remains my primary material.
“I want my students to stop thinking “The inspiration usually comes from the practice itself. I ask myself: what happens if we break this barrier? What happens if we mix disciplines, techniques?”you can only make a bouquet. I want them to think beyond, to see the beauty of the stems.”
How did you build your brand?
Following that residency in Atocha, the Hilton hotel commissioned me to create something connected to the history of the place. Very few people were doing anything contemporary with esparto at the time, so they reached out to me. I started creating pieces for them, and from there I began searching for references, building a narrative for one project, then another, finding what resonated most. That is how you develop it little by little: you take external references, make them your own, and in the end you arrive at something very personal.
What would you like people to take away from your workshop at MADRID BLOOMS?
A different way of looking at material. Seeing how from something very simple you can create something very precious, the transformation of material from something basic into volume based work. We always work from a concept, and I would love for people to see that process, from concept to creation, with simple fibers that, unlike flowers, have a very different nature.
In your opinion, what do educational spaces like MADRID BLOOMS offer?
I think they are spaces where experimenting is essential, to learn, to discover, and also because relationships are formed. Every educational space serves to teach techniques, but above all to let yourself go and be surprised. To see just how far your creativity can stretch.
Has there been a project that redefined your professional path?
We really have been making some significant leaps. I would probably say the most recent one, with Hermès, where in addition to fibers we added embroidery and leather work, and we managed to make the pieces convey movement without actually moving. But there were other important milestones before that. Last year we launched our first mechanized piece. We wanted to move away from something static and bring it into motion. The mechanized fish we presented in Milan was a bet we made on our own terms. And the Hermès projects have been very pivotal, because there was so much creativity involved, they gave us a great deal of creative freedom, in wonderful spaces, and the dialogue with the brand was very beautiful. Those are probably the most significant.
How does the creative process work? Do you start from a brief or from your own intuition?
They give you a theme to work from, but with freedom. There is always a dialogue with the brand. When I work on my own, I draw inspiration from what I have developed throughout the year and want to take one step further. I want to experiment a little more, break another barrier. The inspiration usually comes from the practice itself. I ask myself: what happens if we break this barrier? What happens if we mix disciplines, techniques? It is like a constant inspiration that grows from the work itself, from building in order to create something new.
How do you make space for your own experimentation?
Projects have their own rhythms. There are intense periods throughout the year, and in between we dedicate ourselves to creating our own pieces. Right now, for example, summer is a quieter season for projects, so we are about to release our own collection. Within it there are pieces that are more experimental than others. But since we take risks in everything we do, we are really experimenting all year round. When our own collection comes around, we push it a little further. We will be showing it in several galleries, one in Spain and one abroad.
Do you feel that Bilbao or the Basque Country has inspired your work?
I always thought it hadn’t. I am also from the Mediterranean, I have family in Barcelona, I am from the Basque Country, but I was educated in France, so I have always felt very European in general. But the other day, swimming in the Cantabrian Sea with enormous waves, I thought: of course it is. We are just like that.
Is there a project you are especially proud of?
Probably the most recent one, in Amsterdam for Hermès. It is called Wings Within. The concept we used is very powerful, but also on an aesthetic and technical level we went beyond just impressing with volume, we worked on really intricate and precise details. It brings together a strong concept, a bold aesthetic, and a great deal of delicacy in the finishing.
Do you have sustainable practices in the way you work?
Yes. We work with national fiber, which gives us a great deal of control over where it comes from and the transportation. We do use rattan, but not much, and rattan comes from far away. But our structures are made of wood or metal. We also package all our pieces in wooden structures we build ourselves, with no fillings, because we secure the pieces very well. The packaging is very sustainable and we barely generate any waste, since we do not use any plastic derivatives as a rule.
When someone sees your work, what would you like them to feel?
There is one feeling I love most: magnetism. Feeling so drawn in that you cannot just walk past. And then the next one is like an internal expansion, a sensation that something is pulling you beyond your own limits. Magnetism and expansion, seeing something that makes you grow from within.