“These are arrimaderos,” explain Montserrat Coral and Òscar Vidal, mother and son, third and fourth generation of Ceràmiques Coral. Arrimaderos, yes, ceramic compositions that reach up to halfway up the wall and are very typical decorations of the modernist era. But what are they called in Catalan? Arrambadors doesn’t sound particularly good, it seems like a Hispanism, but, yes, that’s what they are called. At Ceràmiques Coral, they have a few arrambadors on display and they have restored a lot of them, replacing original pieces with very well-made modern replicas. They are also experts in hydraulic mosaic, that element so identified with the floors of houses and apartments from the early twentieth century. They show me a couple of old tiles that are ready to be sent to the workshop: the client needs to reproduce one square meter of tiling, which is equivalent to about twenty-five tiles. One tile will be used to analyze the colors they need and the other will serve as a model for the composition and the border. A costly commission, not so common. The most common commission they receive is tiling floors or walls with modern tiles. Renovations at home? Complete renovation for a new residence? Well, you will very likely need the services of a company like Coral.

In an era marked by screens, artificial intelligence, and hyperconnectivity, more and more people are dedicating part of their free time to manual activities such as ceramics, embroidery, crochet, furniture restoration, or clothing making. This phenomenon, known as DIY (Do It Yourself or “Do it yourself”), has ceased to be an activity exclusively associated with specific generations to become a widespread practice among people of all ages.

The multidisciplinary artist Ivan Forcadell (Alcanar, 1993) champions the persistence and discipline of the countryside as a creative driving force. Between tradition and irony, Forcadell rescues objects and memories from the rural world to give them a new aesthetic life and reveal a universe of their own. His latest exhibition, No title, can be visited from September 18 at the SELTZ gallery in Barcelona.

The company that made Galician folk art fashionable closed one of its factories this Thursday, amid uncertainty about its future. A few days ago, the legendary Sargadelos ceramics factory received a notice from the Labor Inspectorate resulting in a "significant financial fine" for 36 sanctioning reasons for negligence or incorrect manufacturing procedures. The owner of the Galician company, Segismundo García, known for his stoicism and for having managed to refloat the company when it was completely bankrupt, responded by announcing the closure of one of its two factories, the most historic one, located in Cervo, Lugo, without clarifying that it will close the second one, in the town of Sada.