Nerja Today

Arts and Crafts in Andalucía and Spain

GUITARS
Spain and Guitar go hand in hand and Granada is Spain's centre for guitar production, its craftsmen renowned for their fine quality and precious woods. Walk down some of the narrow, back streets and you will see the craftsmen at work. After Granada, the main centres are Sevilla, Córdoba and Almería.

GOLD and SILVER
Traditional gold and silversmiths producing religious articles are to be found in the Granada area, the craftsmen drawing their inspiration from the city's highly varied cultural and historical background. Córdoba is the main centre for general gold and silver work, producing 60% of Spain's jewellery. There are a huge number of tiny workshops, each producing their own unique designs and and using their own, special techniques.

METALWORK
Metal crafts, especially iron forging and copper and brass work, are still much practiced in Andalucia. Decorative locks, grills for doors and windows, balcony railings, wall lamps and decorative gates abound in the province. Household items, both decorative and functional, are generally crafted in brass, tin, copper and bronze.

In Granada, metalwork techniques date back to the Moorish period, and this can be seen in the work of the city's boilermakers, blacksmiths and tinsmiths. Unusual and highly decorative lamps are a speciality of the area. Lucena, in the province of Córdoba, is probably the leading centre for metalwork in Spain, with Sevilla also highly regarded for its creative ironwork.
 
WEAVING
The use of hand-operated looms is becoming a thing of the past as modern technology takes over, but they do still exist in some of the more remote areas, being used to produce special articles for export purposes.

There is Grazalema in Cádiz province which produces wool blankets, and Almería, where coarsely woven rugs known as 'jarapas' are produced. In Málaga, the Madraza factory is well-known for traditional carpets, tapestry and other decorative textiles, where motifs from the 17th and 18th centuries are used.

Granada is famous for its intricate embroidery, as well as carpet and tapestry weaving. The Alpujarra region is famous for the weaving of Moorish-style rugs, wall-hangings and a fabric known as 'alpujarreño', which is widely used for curtains and upholstery. Andalucia in general is also famous for its hand-embroidered flamenco dresses and finely embroidered silk shawls known as 'mantón de Manila'.

GLASSWARE
High quality glassware has been produced in Almeria since the 13th century and there is a very good workshop in the fishing village of Roquetas del Mar. In Málaga Province, delicate Moorish patterns are used and there is also production of stained glass windows and finely deco