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Barcelona, Spain

Elisa Padrón

Weaver

The cross-cultural weaver

  • Elisa works with natural fibres from Gran Canaria, weaving plants into her wall hangings
  • Her work accentuates the bare-essence and imperfections in materials
  • She teaches at IED Barcelona and has given workshops during London Design Week

For Elisa Padrón, the multicultural experience of studying and working far from her native Las Palmas has been a journey of self-discovery. She studied Industrial Design in the Canary Islands and Product Design at Barcelona’s Elisava School of Design and Engineering. Upon graduating in 2009, she relocated to France to work in Decathlon’s department of innovation, becoming an expert in palette colour design and fabrics. With Decathlon, Elisa embarked on a four-month immersion trip to India, where she engaged with artisans and design students. By 2015, back in Barcelona, her international experience allowed her to collaborate with textile labels Nanimarquina and Cotlin RAW. Elisa opened her own studio in 2021 to interpret her own works on the loom and make new connections to her roots through materials and circularity.


Interview

©Angharad Segura
©Meritxell Arjalaguer
In what ways are your family roots present in your craft?
Handcraft and manual dexterity were always present in my family. My father, as an architect, had the dual ability to work the technical and creative. My mother had a passion for painting natural elements on silk fabric. I combine those inherited traits with the natural fibres available in my homeland and the engagement of the local community.
What moment in your career led you to consider artisanship?
In 2009 I was part of an India immersion project with Decathlon as a product designer. We sourced textiles from artisans in Pakistan and Nepal. I learned techniques found in kilims, dhurries or Tibetan knots and learned to weave, prototype and explore concepts directly on my own loom.
What is your work’s relationship with the Canary Islands and Barcelona?
I found beauty in the noble traits of the dragon tree and the philodendrum, which are endemic species of the Canary Islands. My work originates there, in the sourcing of these dried plants which are taken back to my studio in Barcelona to be transformed and upgraded into unique wall compositions and collaborations with other studios.
What have you learned from your cultural exchanges?
We may not speak the same language, but we communicate through hand gestures and rhythms. I am very observant while sitting next to artisans and learning their ancestral ways. They have been my masters. Most artisans in India and Pakistan are very rudimentary, but their thorough understanding of their fibres and traditional techniques produces unique, high-quality textiles.
Elisa Padrón is a rising star: she began her career in 2021 and she started teaching in 2021

Where


Elisa Padrón

Address: Address upon request, Barcelona, Spain
Hours: By appointment only
Phone: +34 636101490
Languages: Spanish, French, English
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