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Yolanda Sánchez
Born 1967 in Barakaldo (Bizkaia), Spain
Currently living in Bilbao

Biography

Graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of the Basque Country and Specialized in Design and Installation of Art Exhibitions through the Complutense University of Madrid.

Until 2004, Yolanda Sánchez carried out her activities as a conservator-restorer of  artistic  and cultural heritage, as Artworks Courier and Exhibition Facilities Coordinator for numerous public and private institutions, both national and international, such as:  

-Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid,

-Fine Arts Museum of Alava in Vitoria-Gasteiz,

-ARTIUM Basque Museum-Center of Contemporary Art in Vitoria-Gasteiz,

-The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa,

-The Fondation Pierre Gianadda in Martigny-Switzerland,

-The Instituto Cervantes in Berlin and New York,

-The Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, amongst others.

Most  recently,  she  initiated  a new  career  with a training  in visual arts and handicrafts in multidisciplinary areas.

She launched  her own artisan  business  in  2009,  specialized  in textile,  with a production  based on natural raw materials such as silk and wool.

From  then on,  she has  been participating  in numerous  professional  events  selling her production, organizing workshops, individual and collective exhibitions alongside artists and other craftsmen, and collaborating with designers.

In parallel, she has been carrying out research on silk and wool as raw materials, and natural dyes, getting trained alongside professionals like Annette Quentin-Stoll, Liz Clay, Ana Roquero Caparrós, Michel Garcia, Irit Dulman among others.

She is involved in processes and ecological and sustainable production.

She  has  recently  launched a new line of  products,  under  the name "ardi-ko", the  result  of a craft-design  collaboration  project:  a co-creation process between local  craftsmen  and  designers,  with raw materials such as latxa and carranzana wool, typical of the Basque Country.

ardi-ko is a reminiscence of the Basque traditional wool textile industry with a view to renewal

Latxa and Carranzana wool

 to which we apply new purposes and processes that differ from manufacturing techniques traditionally used in the Basque Country

A  local  and  handmade production which promotes the  collaboration  between flock-owners,  craftsmen and designers,

thus creating objects with a more human approach

 

Objects created to tell emotion triggering stories

Principles that apply to each object created

* Novel applications of local Latxa and Carranzana wool in artistic and everday objects.

* Merino wool is found in certain items due to its past usage and economic impact in the Basque Country. This raw material arrived from Castile region to the Port of Bilbao, where it would be shipped to textile factories throughout Europe.

* A sustainable design which gives a chance to add value to what is considered a low quality material for the production of textiles.

* A  local  and  handmade production which promotes the  collaboration  between flock-owners,  craftsmen and designers, thus creating objects with a more human approach.

Ecological goods

* Items produced on a small scale, which give visibility to the Basque wool.

* Objects that are produced with natural and environmentally friendly raw materials.

* Use of undyed natural wool, thus respecting the natural colour of the sheep.

* Traceability of the wool which is certified and controlled throughout the whole process.


Technique


The preparation of the wool is a meticulous and slow process

The wool is collected from the Baserris (farm houses)

 classified, washed, combed in order to open the fibre, and carded, all by hand



The main method is the wet felting of the wool, thus producing a non-woven fabric.

Wool  fibres  have a  unique  surface structure which consists of overlapping scales.

Through  the wet  felting  process, the fibres slip over one another and the scales interlock.

To  obtain  the  textile, warm soapy  water  is applied to layers of overlapped  carded and/or  combed wool roving, kneading  the surface repeatedly in order to compact the fibres. After the wet felting process is complete, the soap is finally rinsed off the felted material.


Campaign for wool


In the past, wool production was a commodity, used to cover the cost of shearing

 Nowadays, shearing has become another expensive and annoying task for flock-owners

With the campaign for wool, our aim is to contribute financially to alleviate those costs Remember that with each product you acquire ardi-ko are supporting this campaign

Shearing: process by which the woollen fleece of a sheep is cut off, by cutting or clipping, once or twice a year

This task is normally carried out in May or June, leaving the flock free of their fleece before the arrival of hot summer months

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