The exhibition this year features 76 professionals from 17 municipalities representing 25 traditional crafts
The fair will remain open until 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 2
The Gran Canaria Autumn South Craft Fair heads into the weekend in the surroundings of the Maspalomas Lighthouse, a perfect setting for 76 artisans from 17 municipalities across the island to showcase the products they work on throughout the year.
The event is also an opportunity to show the public the 25 crafts that these professionals carry out with dedication, as many of them not only display their creations in the three tents set up for the exhibition, but also demonstrate their craft live, explaining to visitors how they do it. The Gran Canaria Craft Fair is therefore a unique opportunity to get to know, up close, the trades that keep Canarian identity alive — from the most traditional to the most modern and contemporary.
Among the artisans featured in this edition is Delia Ramírez, who transforms disused CDs into colourful, lightweight jewellery, thus helping to reduce the pollution caused by throwing them away:
“Once I learned how polluting CDs are when we no longer use them — and how they take so many years to decompose — I was shocked,” she says.
Since retiring, she has been turning these discs into earrings and necklaces, attending craft fairs for more than five years now.
For Delia, the location next to the Maspalomas Lighthouse is perfect, because visitors from abroad “are the kind of public that buys — and since they are on holiday, they are more relaxed and stop to listen when I explain how each piece is made; they really value the quality of handmade craft.”
The Autumn South Gran Canaria Craft Fair also welcomes professionals who are taking part in this type of event for the first time. This is the case of Julia Crespo, ceramist and co-founder of the Cocoro Cerámica workshop, who is attending a fair like this for the first time.
“Taking part is an important step for us, to enter the world of Canarian craftsmanship and connect with the public,” said the designer, who thanked Fedac “for its support in helping us become visible.”
“It is important for us to get closer to the public — for people to see what we do — and to continue expressing ourselves through our hands, which for me is the most important thing as an artist and as a ceramist,” she explained, noting that she began practising crafts as a hobby and has continued to deepen her skills ever since.
In another of the tents is Domingo Alemán, blacksmith, forger and locksmith, one of the six traditional trades represented at the fair. With more than twenty years of experience in the craft and at artisan fairs, Domingo laments that blacksmithing and forging are condemned to disappear:
“It used to be common for people to bring things to repair — a pot, a ladle… now it’s something very rare.”
That’s why he never misses the craft fairs promoted by Fedac, eager to show new generations what blacksmithing is all about.
“There’s no one coming after me; so how can we explain to a child that every town used to have two or three blacksmiths because it was a necessity? Now we’re no longer needed — there are almost no blacksmiths left — but we’re still part of our history.”
These three artisans are just a small example of the many professionals and crafts taking part in this edition of the Craft Fair, which will remain open until this Sunday, November 2, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The fair also features musical performances that enrich visitors’ experience. This afternoon will see performances by Daniel Moreno, Misael Jordán and Juan Sebastián Ramírez, and tomorrow, Saturday, November 1, by the Guardilama Duo, both starting at 5:00 p.m.
Promoted and funded by the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, through the Canarian Ethnography and Craft Development Fund (Fedac) — a body attached to the Department of Economic Development, Industry, Trade and Handicrafts — the Autumn South Craft Fair is organised by Infecar, Feria de Gran Canaria, with the collaboration of the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council.
