Narration by @loretosocorro
Gran Canaria entered in 2022 inaugurating the 27th San Telmo Craft Fair, our “Insular Fair”, also known as the “Kings Fair”. The Cabildo de Gran Canaria and the FEDAC - Foundation for Ethnography and the Development of Canarian Crafts - have made it possible for the current health situation to coexist with this annual exhibition.
It is a delicious walk inside two tents and eighty stands, where objects with a sweet aftertaste are displayed, although it is not the only gift that we will take with us. At each stand we can speak directly with the creators and that contact with the person behind the crafts is yet another treasure of this fair. The care with which each of the stalls are decorated also reflects the expectations of the event and the good spirit of the host people.
At the beginning of one of the tents, father and son are with a torch, which goes from 800ºC to 1200ºC, to convert a rod of boron silicate into pieces of glass. A bar at the melting point and another to mold the shape that the craftsman has in his head. This is how he takes out dolphins, elephants, starfish ... Like the hypnotic fire that melts the rods and turns them into bright ornaments, thus we also draw a teaching and transform obstacles into the strength that is the mutual support to keep these trades alive.
These people leave their workshops for a few days loaded with their works, in which they have put the best of each one, to approach us from drafts, Canarian knives, jewelry, toys ... to articles made from reuse. Whoever exhibits here these days, works with his hands various materials such as wood, leather, wool, vegetable fibers, glass and metals. They are women and men who with creativity, good knowledge and many hours of work keep alive the trade they received from their ancestors or who learned through passion and that are part of our identity.
There are works that are not only crafts but reflect the beauty of those who create them and, as Claudia Heller, who designs and creates jewelry, tells us: “It motivates me to do something that human beings always did: before we humans dressed, we already decorated ourselves with ceramics and paintings. This work feels like a miniature sculpture because you can do everything and using various techniques. You are not limited by the material. "
Among forms that enrich those who make it and whoever acquires it, we also find José Robayna, a craftsman and "his world of iron", transforming metals into unique pieces such as the series entitled "inhabitants of water", inspired by the poems of the Sea of Nestor.
In the flow of visitors, curiosity is breathed by those who want to know, with the desire of those who are looking to find the most original gift and, also, other ways of making these trades visible from the hand of web publications, social networks and influencers. New times and new ways to continue being reborn.
Until January 05 and at the top of the bus station (Plaza de los Escritores), in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, we have a visit that we want because it is endearing and longed for, to acquire unique objects and support the artisan trades of our land . This exhibition of the work of artisans and artisans will be open to show us what we were and what we still are, as they represent an important part of Canarian popular culture.
