FROM PAST TO PRESENT
Javier S Medina
While a collaboration with luxury house Loewe thrust Javier S Medina firmly into the spotlight, it doesn’t rank as his highest career thrill. “Working with Loewe has been a dream and an honour, especially being a Spanish brand and the big support it brings to craftsmanship,” says the Madrid-based artisan. “But honestly, the biggest highlight is being able to live off my work with crafts — not easy these days — and keep creating what I imagine.”
A self-taught craftsman, Medina bends and weaves bamboo, wicker, rattan or fibre by hand at whim to create mirrors and animal heads, but his creativity also takes ancestral root. His grandfather spent his days at the Spanish National Railway Network, “but after work, he used to braid esparto [grass] and create all kinds of things that we needed for the house with it, such as chairs,” he says. “Esparto basket weaving is where the cestero [basket maker] makes baskets for use, using vegetable fibres such as esparto, white palm, reed, cat tail or wicker since ancient times.”
The nostalgic appeal of these materials and the time-honoured methods used to transform them into pieces of functional beauty only add to Medina’s appreciation of
