In Forcall, two surprising things happened to me

In Forcall, two surprising things happened to me. The first was meeting Pep Orti. Pep stopped me in the street, it was 9:00am and I had been taking shots of the small treasures I was discovering around the town. His invitation was direct: “if you like photography, perhaps you would like to photograph my museum”. After passing by the hotel for breakfast I quickly returned, I soon found myself inside a small premise on the street of with traditional town houses of this area.

Pep’s small museum had been created upon his father’s (Florenci Orti) initiative. A wide space with very high ceilings, and a dim and subtle light that encased each piece, different tools of all types and periods including traditional farming tools, which Florencio had been collecting and restoring throughout his entire life. Pep told me how the majority of the pieces exhibited there had arrived in his hands; through small exchanges and bartering with the neighbors in the area. A lifetime of compiling and restoring all sorts of tools traditionally used for slaughters, grapevine cultivation, transport, shoemaking, farming…

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Florenci, now retired, is an espadrille expert as was his wife and parents. All of them created the traditional “espardeñas” (– a traditional canvas shoe with a hemp or jute sole secured to the foot by straps). These shoes, worn by all in Forcall and the rest of the region, were used for both parties and work. Pep continues and maintains this tradition, sporadically doing workshops for those interested in this shoemaking craft. That exact same weekend he had planned to do one, and had prepared all the material ready to receive his students who were each going to leave with a beautiful pair of espadrilles handcrafted by them.

The top part of the premises accommodates a very complete exhibition of tools used to treat the fibers and all other tasks carried out by an espadrille maker. Pep’s father’s, mother’s and grandmother’s work seats are all exhibited there, like a small display of espadrilles from different periods.

I left with a fantastic feeling, excited to see how someone had had the sensitivity to select, compile, and classify all those elements that had formed part of the work, culture and life of the town with so much care and attention. It is these little stories that are able to make me happy and give sense not only to one day but to a whole trip. These small stories are the ones that reach me deep inside and it also excites me to hear about the main characters in them.

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I leave you with some images that I captured while Pep explained to me, in full detail, the history of each and every piece displayed there upon his father, Florenci’s, initiative.

Many thanks to Florenci for compiling and ordering all these small testimonies of the life and work of his region, and also to Pep for maintaining, caring for, and spreading his legacy with so much careful attention.

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Why are all things Vintage so in Fashion?

We have now been continuously hearing this word for years. We hear it in relation to fashion, decoration, cooking, art, crafts, floristry and design in general… From cars to electrodomestics everything can qualify under this term. Vintage sells.

However, what is so attractive about vintage items? Why has this special style of pastel tones and perfect finishes returned yet again?

For me, Vintage is a synonym for exclusivity, quality, good materials and, of course, craftsmanship. Vintage is a synonym for something well done or well made in the past.

If you think about lace, velvet ribbons, wild flowers, antique books, black and white photographs, hidden treasures in a chest, furniture stored in an old loft, you’re thinking about Vintage.

Thanks to this love for handmade things, and for unique and irreplaceable pieces, we have recovered a great deal of lost traditions. We knit and do crochet and bobbin lace making. I know various clubs and societies in which lovers of the art of knitting can get together once a week in order to share patterns and chat about wools, needles, scarves and fabric slippers.

We baked cakes and cupcakes so colourful and detailed that it was a shame to eat them, yet they had come from recipes recovered from our grandmother’s forgotten cookbooks.

The art of calligraphy has returned, we have started to write postcards and cards again, classes are given on how to write with a quill pen or on how to make wax seals. What would make you especially happy, receiving a card by post or by email? In my opinion, especially if the address of the card delivered is written by hand, it would seem as if the best present had just arrived for me.

Vintage photography is a contagious fever. Editing in black and white, sepia or with textures is all but an art that takes us back to the beginning of photography, when each photograph was revealed without really knowing what you were going to find.

Different sensations are recovered and shared. The “Do it Yourself” is in fashion and goes hand in hand with Vintage. You can disconnect, chat and exchange ideas, whether its face to face or over internet forums.

This is the secret of Vintage. You can recover human contact, passionate recoveries and values which had been buried with the passing of years. Manual work, well made things, eye for detail, perfect finishes…

It’s due to this that we like designs from the 20s, 30s, 40s… These years reunite all of the characteristics of which we had previously spoken, each and every one of them belongs to these years. It is because of this that we search for this aesthetic, and that’s why these great designers continue to look at these years when the time comes to launch a new collection.

Vintage is a style marked by the retro exclusivity and by the magic of well made things, that’s why Vintage sells. It has been selling for years and everyday it sells more and more.

We will continue enjoying this style and go with its flow…