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Ábbatte – Creating Handmade Textiles in Spain

Spain

Marisa Albanese        July 21, 2021

ÁBBATTE creates handmade textiles in Spain on the grounds of a 13th -century Cistercian monastery in the town of Segovia.

Nestled in the ruins of a 13th-century monastery in Segovia, Spain, Ábbatte is a company that produces handmade textiles with an appreciation for tradition and artisan craftsmanship.

Run by the mother-daughter duo Elena Goded Rambaud and Camila Lanzas, Ábbatte was founded with the vision of bringing crafts closer to people and making them feel it is something that they can integrate and use in their everyday lives. Playing with natural textile fibres and botanical natural dyes that are grown in the organic on-site garden, the brand manages to incorporate artisanal values with a contemporary aesthetic. The range of home textile objects are produced in a sustainable way through employing local weavers and artisans, as well as the key characteristic of each product being made by hand. Not only does the firm appreciate traditional artisanal craft, but they also hope to transmit this knowledge and fascination to the next generation through their workshops.

Q & A WITH Elena Goded Rambaud and Camila Lanzas

Mood of Living: Where did you grow up?

Elena Goded Rambaud: in Madrid

Camila Lanzas: in Madrid

MoL: How did your childhood influence your love for Spain and local culture?

EGR: My parents, especially my mother, attended courses of art, history and Spanish music all their lives, and they made us participate in this, listening to music in our house, old guitar and making cultural trips. My father was a great lover of Spanish music.

CL: We travelled a lot around Spain and got to know different local traditions and landscapes. In our travels we also got to know the cultural, artistic and musical aspects of each region.

MoL: Where did you go to school and what did you study?

EGR: Due to various circumstances, I attended a variety of schools and studied very different things including biology, children’s education, fashion design, and finally I got a doctorate in education.

CL: I studied history of art at Goldsmiths College in London. After graduating I studied jewelry design in Madrid at the Arts & Crafts School.

MoL: What inspired you to create Ábbatte as a mother and daughter duo? What are your roles in the company and how do your individual skills complement each other? What was your mission when you created the company? Has your mission evolved as you have built your business, and if so, how?

EGR: What inspired me to create Ábbatte was a course in textile crafts that I gave at the university for 25 years, and my interest in crafts and natural dyes. For this reason, I created the botanical garden of tinctorial plants, which for Ábbatte has a cultural aspect, since we also develop courses and workshops in line with the botanical garden. Camila, my daughter, was the one who helped me with her creativity and design. Above all, I manage the botanical garden, the courses, the cultural visits, and the natural colors.

 

The purpose was always to create a textile craft center, which would help spread the cultural and environmental values ​​of both textile materials and natural dyes. One effect that this center produced was that it contributed to local development since all the people who work in Ábbatte live either in the small town where the company headquarters are located or in small towns in the area. I have also helped to put a value on the historical heritage of Segovia in cultivating and spreading the use of Rubia tinctorum (madder) and revaluing the handmade fabrics that were so important in Castile since the Middle Ages.

MoL: Your office and production are based in a 13th century monastery in Segovia, Spain. Why did you choose this particular historical site to produce your products? How does the monastery and the surrounding land influence your designs and your lives?

EGR: This place was random; we were not looking for a specific Cistercian ruin. We had the ruins next to our house. The former owners did not want them, so the site passed into our hands. This was the origin of creating around the ruins where we later consolidated all the workshops and the botanical garden.

The sober and powerful character of this environment has impressed a character on our textiles. For me, being there has taken on a lot of importance in my life and has become a necessity for everything that it transmits to me. This is such an intense perception that anyone has when they come to this place.

MoL: Who are the artisans that you hire, and what experience do they need to join your company? Do you try to hire local talent?

EGR: The first person we hired was a former weaver who is from a nearby small town and worked in this town since she was a child in a manual weaving workshop that no longer exists. She is the one who trained the other weavers, who started with no training before and now have great mastery. We have worked with weavers trained in the non-industrial textiles training section of the vocational training center that is in the old town of Segovia, in the heart of the city.

MoL: What conferences and workshops do you offer at the Monastery? Do you provide any hands-on workshops and if so, what do you teach?

EGR: At the Monastery, we offer courses related to textiles and color and conferences on topics related to fashion and the textile world. We developed a permanent seminar called “History Through Daily Life,” and periodically workshops are given on topics such as natural dyes, basketwork, headgear and painting on silk in which students create their own objects.

MoL: Elena, what motivated you to become a founding member of The Association of the Spanish Contemporary Craftsmanship? What does this organization do, and why is it important?

EGR: Previously, when we went to textile or craft fairs, such as Maison et Objet and ICFF in New York, many times they asked me if a craft similar to Ábbatte is being developed in Spain in other fields such as ceramics, leather, furniture, etc. These questions made me reflect on how good and successful it could be to create an association of all the high-level crafts that exist in Spain but with the characteristics present in a contemporary design, like what we do in Ábbatte.

I am the founder and creator of the project, and I called in 10 artisans and designers to be founding partners. And now we are going for 24 partners/members. They are from different parts of the territory of Spain; therefore, they represent the national territory.

MoL: Who and what inspires your work? Does nature influence your designs?

 EGR: The nature of natural textile fibers themselves offers us the structural effects that fabrics present, and the subtle colors that natural dyes present us are an inexhaustible source to play with tones.

CL: The yarn itself often suggests to you what to do with it. Of course, nature is as well an infinite source of inspiration with its limitless shapes and colors. Antique fabrics and designs are also important and inspiring.

MoL: What is the process of creating your textiles from weaving, dyeing, to the final product?

EGR: The basis of creation, or the first step, is the search for very high-level fibers and dyes.  You begin to play using them from warp to weft or vice versa. You also change their way of joining and how colors are transmitted according to their use on the loom. Small samples are made, and once the designs that the designer likes the most have been selected, they are reproduced in several meters to check their fall and their result with the light. And finally, some prototypes are created, whether they are to be weaved into rugs, tablecloths, bedspreads, headboards, blankets or pieces of clothing. We are currently collaborating on a project with some embroiderers to make exclusive tablecloths.

MoL: What kind of products do you produce? What materials do you work with the most? What influenced you to combine traditional craftsmanship techniques with a modern and minimalistic design to create your products?

EGR: The foundation and technical mastery or skill are the basis of our pieces. You must have a command of color and know how to weave in our workshops since our looms represent a very old craft. We wanted to create objects and pieces that would convey the concepts and values ​​of a contemporary aesthetic.

CL: We produce textile objects for the home and to wear. We use natural fibers such as wool, Alpaca wool, silk, linen and hemp. We felt that sometimes the design of traditional artisans is not updated. We wanted to bring crafts closer to people and make them feel they are something they can integrate and use in everyday life.

MoL: You make your own dyes for your products sourcing from your organically-grown botanical garden. Why do you cultivate your own dyes? What are the benefits? Why are chemically produced dyes so harmful for the planet?

EGR: The Ábbatte botanical garden is an ethnobotanical garden whose purpose is to show the use of plants. In this specific case, the use is its ability to dye textile material. There are normally several specimens of each species, but in order to obtain production for dyeing, it would be necessary to have a large area of ​​land for each one of them. The simple obtaining of the textile material dyed with the plants is already a huge project in itself. The botanical gardens are only of diffusion and approach to botany. It has a didactic purpose of approach to the vegetable world and the vegetable kingdom. Some chemical dyes can be harmful either due to lack of care in the purification of water from the processes. Others produce allergic reactions on the skin.

 MoL: What sustainable initiatives do you implement in your business?

EGR: In the first place, although it was not something that we had in mind at the beginning, the fact that we created Ábbatte has helped people to take root in this area of ​​Castilla, both by creating jobs that do not require displacement and by a revaluation of the local culture. On the other hand, we do not have industrial machinery, and all our looms are powered by human hands. This implies that there is no energy consumption. The entire Ábbatte project creates an approach and awareness towards natural materials and is helping to re-educate people about one of the deepest senses of man, the sense of touch.

MoL: Do you offer Bespoke collaborations in addition to your stock items?

EGR: Yes. It is a very important part of Ábbatte, since we collaborate with several national and international architecture and design studios, offering the possibility of making various pieces to order, from small dimensions to very large pieces.

 MoL: Do you think that Spanish fashion and interior design companies are valuing sustainability and artisanal craftsmanship more than they have in the past? Do you find that there are more customers that are seeking brands that incorporate these values?

EGR: We believe that in a very short time this value has begun to increase, and lately, although it is “incredible,” COVID-19 has accelerated the value of this.

MoL: In addition to your e-commerce site, do you have any physical stores? If so, where? Do you see expanding your distribution to other countries?

EGR: Yes, we have a physical store in the center of Madrid, near the famous Retiro park. Through marketing efforts, we are in the process of expanding our project both nationally and internationally, especially in countries such as England, Sweden, the United States, France and Switzerland.

MoL: Do you lead an eco-conscious lifestyle? If so, how?

EGR: It is an issue that is part of my life, especially in my diet and in the materials that surround me, like paint, walls and floor varnishes that do not have toxic components. On a personal level, my tastes are based on practicing with nature. All my life I have been doing mountaineering, high mountains escalation, rock and ice climbing.

CL: I try as much as possible to eat organic and eco-friendly foods and cut back on meat.  I also recycle at home and try to use as little plastic as possible. I also buy only natural-fiber clothes and work in a sustainable company.  I use as little heating and air conditioning as possible. I still have a diesel car, which is terrible, so my next car will definitely be electric!

MoL: What advice can you give to young people interested in sustainability and in making a living through preserving traditional craft?

EGR: Sustainability shall be reflected in the consumption of all the objects that they use or surround themselves with. Have a lower and more selective consumption instead of higher consumption because this lower, selective consumption will help to reduce the production of objects in the world. Therefore, there will be less pollution and less energy consumption.

CL: Usually traditional craft products are high-quality goods and therefore last longer. I would bet on buying less overall but investing in high-quality products.

Photography and videos courtesy of Ábbatte

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