Artileko

The project

To promote through craftsmanship, design and co-creation a traditional raw material of our environment: the latxa and/or carranzana.

To disassociate its traditional use in the making of pieces as well as the techniques that have been used with it, such as low-warp textile weaving and needle knitting.

The History

Wool in the past had a usefulness that has been forgotten and replaced by new materials. Wool was used for stuffing mattresses and for family supplies such as socks, jumpers, blankets.

What was once a natural use is nowadays an ecological problem. Once or twice a year the sheep are shorn of their natural coat. Year after year, the fleeces* are either stored with no way out or attempts are made to destroy them without success, abandoned in ravines, caves, etc.

The Products

To make pieces that are unusual in the way they are made with this raw material, combining it with a contemporary design. In this way we want to give prominence to wool.

As for the technique to be used, following the aforementioned premises, it is carried out using the wet felting technique. 

The latxa and carranzana wool are not wools that are marketed, due to these characteristics and to what we pointed out at the beginning, the incorporation to the market of new materials that have replaced them.

The characteristics of this wool have been used to create the objects we propose. Highlighting the rusticity of the raw material, creating contrasts in the surfaces, taking advantage of the thick fibre of this wool that favours a hollow and light textile.Always working the raw material to its advantage in order to extract the best from it.

Merino wool is used in some very specific applications. This wool had its presence and use in these lands in the past. It reached the port of Bilbao, from Castile, to be shipped to the European textile industrial centres.

La quesería Barroeta debe el nombre a la Casa-Torre de Barroeta. A partir del siglo XIV se generaliza la violencia entre los dos bandos: Oñacinos y Gamboínos, en los que se dividen los diversos linajes de hidalgos vascos. Los Barroeta tenían como oponentes a los Ugarte. Ambas casas provienen de un tronco común, los Markina que se habrían separado ya para 1355. Las disputas económicas y de poder entre las dos familias se centraron a mediados del siglo XV cuando en 1470, los Ugarte incendiaron la torre de los Barroeta. La torre ha sufrido remodelaciones varias, pasando de torre defensiva a casa.

The Barroeta cheese factory owes its name to the Tower-House of Barroeta. From the 14th century onwards, there was widespread violence between the two sides: the Oñacinos and the Gamboínos, into which the different Basque noble families were divided. The Barroeta family was opposed by the Ugarte family. Both houses came from a common stock, the Markina, who had already separated by 1355. The economic and power disputes between the two families came to a head in the middle of the 15th century when, in 1470, the Ugarte family set fire to the Barroeta tower. The tower has undergone several alterations, changing from a defensive tower to a house.

In May 2014 I contacted Barroeta, a family cheese factory that produces cheese with the Idiazabal Designation of Origin in the Biscayan town of Markina-Xemein. I introduced myself and explained in more detail what I needed their wool for. They donated about six fleeces to prepare and carry out the project.

In this part of Markina-Xemein, today the latxas sheep graze peacefully, cheese is made from their milk and they are sheared when the weather dictates.

Presentation of the products

BOWLS

these containers are traditionally made of ceramic, wood, metal, stone, stone, etc.

Each bowl is accompanied by a felted woollen ball with the word "Latxa" or "Artileko" placed inside, establishing a relationship of content, game, labelling, alluding to the project and/or raw material.

NECKLACES

spheres, balls of wool, shapes that remind us of collecting spun wool, ready for weaving. Balls connected with another raw material, deeply rooted in local textiles: linen. Objects in which we are interested in volume, not weight. We are interested in making the person wearing them feel comfortable.

New proposals emerged from these objects.

Proposals that involve wool in objects of everyday use or that serve as a guide in playful experiences.

8 PORTIONS

is a presentation of cheese on a table based on the idea of traditionally cutting cheese in the shape of a wedge.

SHOULDER BAG

is an elegant way of carrying cheese designed for a male audience.

CHEESE BAG

is an elegant way of carrying cheese designed for the female audience.

EXPERIENCE PACK

stories with a geographical reference. More than just wearing a necklace, being a bearer of stories.

Textile production: Yolanda Sánchez

Collaborating designer: Xabier Llordés

Developed project in III Artisan Creation Conference  by Arbaso and presented at BEAZ in 2014.

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