Meet The Makers
A visual profile of the best leather artisans in Europe.
The whole concept of craftmanship is dying. The Beautiful thing about this place it's not just about one street or a couple of houses, is the entire village.
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In Ubrique what they've very good at is helping you because they have tons of experience. They've been doing this for centuries. |
The town of Ubrique in southern Spain is beautiful but remote. It doesn't have an airport or a train station and even buses are irregular. Its position, nestled at the bottom of a valley surrounded by big hills, means the easiest way to get there is by car. But even then drivers have to navigate winding and often steep roads. The town is around 75 miles south of Seville. This whitewashed village, known as a Pueblo Blanco (white town) in Spanish, is where many leather brands are made.
It started more than 200 years ago, initially with tanning leather. Eventually, this evolved into the precise leatherwork which the town has become so well known for.
Now the leather is bought in from elsewhere, already tanned and those in Ubrique focus on the more skilled manufacturing work. Today more than half the town's residents work in the leather trade, producing the majority of leather goods sold in the country as well as supplying many big overseas fashion houses.
The techniques needed to produce such goods at the top end of the quality scale has been passed down from generation to generation. Our atelier owner Mr. Sanchez, says most in the town learn these skills when they're young by watching their parents as they work.
"That technique can only go from father to son because it's very specialised. Kind of they have it in their blood", says Mr. Sanchez.
It is these kind of skills honed over generations whcih have drawn many brands. Word of mouth is often how designers have found out about Ubrique.
In Ubrique what they're very good at is helping you because they have tons of experience. They've been doing this for centuries. This kind of slow but precise artisanship is dying out and increasingly hard to find elsewhere. The whole concept of craftsmanship is dying. The beautiful thing about this place is that it's not just one street or a couple of houses. It's an entire village.
Image Source: © La Portegna