Our Andalucian paradise

Detail, Casa del Guadamecí Omeya in Córdoba. Photo © Karethe Linaae
 

Imagine walking into a French palace back in the 16^th Century, the golden age of leatherwork, and coming upon a dancehall lined with brightly shining polychrome gilt-leather panels with the most amazing intricate botanical and geometrical designs. The decor appears to be something out of 1001 Arabian Nights or a magical fairy tale, but in fact these wallcoverings are imported from Andalucía.

Spain is world-renowned for its fine leatherwork, but there is one place that still and always will stand out from the rest - Córdoba. So let us take a visit to the city with the world-famous mosque and learn more about Córdoba’s leather art, both in the past and present.

Antique chest, Casa del Guadamecí Omeya. Photo © Karethe Linaae
 

Leather has been used by mankind since time immemorial, but the Arabs introduced more sophisticated artistic leather work to Spain in the 7^th Century AD. The oldest form of Córdoba leather art, called Guadamecí or Omeya, was developed in the city during the Muslim Caliphate of the 10^th Century.

Many such ancient art forms have been lost, but thanks to a couple of Córdoba leather artist families, the Guadamecí leather art techniques and the later Cordobán leather embossment techniques, have managed to survive.

Guadamecí Omeya - 10^th Century Islamic leather art

Casa del Guadamecí Omeya. Photo © Karethe Linaae


José Carlos Villarejo García (www.josecarlosvillarejo.com) may currently be the only person in the world who dedicates his life exclusively to studying and making Islamic Guadamecí leather art. He was taught by his uncle Ramón García Romero, who through archival material managed to discover and reconstruct the city’s ancient Caliphal techniques that had been lost for centuries.

Detail. Photo © Karethe Linaae
 

“I have the honour of being the only remaining artist to continue this splendorous artistic expression, maintaining the original beauty, philosophy, luxury and refinement of the art,” says the award-winning artist. “Guadamecí creations transport us back in time while reflecting the appreciation of beauty in all its forms, above all geometrical. Other designs represent nature and allows us to imagine our entry into the Eternal Garden.”

Guadamecí chest. Photo © Karethe Linaae

Guadamecí leather art is made from only the highest quality naturally tanned sheep hides.   The technique requires applying a thin film of silver or vermillion onto the leather, before polychrome paint is applied with microscopic accuracy. Since this type of art is clearly aesthetic, it is mostly used for luxury items, like decorative wall hangings, upholstery and screens.

To really appreciate Guadamecí art, stop at the Casa del Guadamecí Omeya in Córdoba’s historic centre. The museum and store display both historical and recent pieces made by José Carlos Villarejo García. Amongst the most amazing pieces on show are several small chests and an absolutely sublime guest book that combines both Guadamecí and Cordobán embossment arts.

Guestbook with Guadanecí and Cordobán tecniques. Photo © Karethe Linaae

For more information, go to www.artesobrepiel.com
 

The development of ‘Cueros de Córdoba’

Detail of old door panel. Photo © Karethe Linaae
 

After the Reconquista of Spain in the 14^th and 15^th Centuries, some of the trained Spaniards and converted Muslims continued producing Mudejar style leathercraft. Later, Western art movements such as Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles influenced Spanish leather art, which became simpler and more utilitarian with the arrival of the Industrial Revolution.

Tooled leather chair from museum at Meryan in Córdoba. Photo © Karethe Linaae

The ‘Cueros de Córdoba’ spread across Europe and into the colonies of the Americas, but the most prestigious artists and best products still came from the city of Córdoba, which was universally also famed for producing the best shoes that money could buy. As early as 1578, the Córdoba City Council forbade anyone outside their guild to work with leather. The decree was approved by the King, and guild members had a stamp with the city’s coat of arms that they applied to mark the leather to stop the production of inferior imitations.

Leather working tools. Photo © Karethe Linaae

Cordobán leather art

The other type of Córdoba leather art is called Cordobán. Which is closer to the style we generally associate with the Spanish leather art of today. The technique usually uses high-quality goats hide, for its flexibility, suppleness, strength and durability. The hides are tanned with sumac, which gives superior results than tanning with oak or pine bark.

Carlos demonstrates Cordobán leather art, Meryan. Photo © Karethe Linaae

Demonstrations of the Cordobán process can be observed at another local leather workshop and museum near Córdoba’s famed Mesquita. Meryan leather art is a third-generation family business with a workshop dedicated to producing handmade and traditional Córdoba leather.

“The hides are always worked when they are humid. The techniques are essentially the same as in the past, and everything is still done by hand,” explains Carlos, one of their leather artists. To create a pattern or a picture, a drawing is traced onto a piece of leather. Then the real work begins - the painstaking carving, pushing and shaping the leather through various techniques such as 3D embossing, using iron stamps and bevellers, colouring, making incisions, metallizing, mosaic work, casting or branding of the leather with a heated object.

Leather tools, Meryan in Córdoba. Photo © Karethe Linaae

Besides observing the artists and being able to purchase some of their fine work, do not miss Meryan’s impressive museum, with rooms and courtyards displaying a wide selection of classic decorated leather furniture, a leather chess board and some ancient leather tapestries that probably belonged in a fort or a palace of the past.

Leather chess board, Meryan. Photo © Karethe Linaae

Meryan’s leather art have received numerous awards and been featured in international media, such as the New York Times and National Geographic. For more information, please go to www.meryancor.com

Meryan museum, Córdoba. Photo © Karethe Linaae

The beauty of the crafted leatherwork is timeless and is yet another incentive to visit the historic and vibrant city of Córdoba.

Cordobán work at Casa del Guadamecí Omeya in Córdoba. Photo © Karethe Linaae

Wrapped up. Photo © Karethe Linaae

Now that we might soon be able to talk about the Corona virus in the past tense, it is time to reflect on how this global pandemic affected our love lives. 

If ‘Love in the time of Cholera’ had its challenges, I can assure you that ‘Love in the time of Corona’ did likewise. While people still fell in love during Covid-19, one may ask how deep was their love? Can one really be sure that the person one meets at a 1.5-meter Covid-safe distance will be one’s great love mate for life? If the tender words of affection uttered through three layers of a surgical mask really have the same affect? And can the pheromones that our bodies omit to potential lovers get past the smell of our hand sanitizers? How can interpersonal attraction develop with all these security measures around? I am merely asking the questions here…

The thinker. Photo © Karethe Linaae

The Corona pandemic has had a profound impact on national demographics. Spain where we live saw record highs for deaths and new lows for marriages last year. Not since the Civil War in the 1930s or the so-called Spanish Flu in the 1920s (which really wasn’t very Spanish), did we see similar profound effects on population statistics. And as expected, the birth rates took a nose-dive as well.


New life. Photo © Karethe Linaae


While deaths increased by almost 20%, which is remarkable it itself, the real mindboggling statistics were the weddings, which fell by over 60% in 2020. We are talking about the most common public manifestation of love, which by and large were cancelled. Why might one ask? Was it because people couldn’t have the usual grand wedding fiestas, or maybe because the time of Corona was not a time for new love?

In white. Photo © Karethe Linaae

But what about people who were already married and shacked up? How did Corona affect their lovelife?

The outsider. Photo © Karethe Linaae

On the plus side, people had more time for ‘hanky panky’. This was clearly noted in the sex-toy industry. While most businesses suffered during the pandemic, the sales of sex toys grew exponentially. As people couldn’t have fun outside their homes, they had to become more innovative inside their homes - and bedrooms. Denmark’s online sex toys sales doubled during the first few months of the pandemic, while ‘kinky’ UK lingerie producers saw similar hikes in sales.

I'm a Barbie girl. Photo © Karethe Linaae

But all was not fun and games. Confinement can also have many negative effects on couples.  

In the first lockdown when we all watched or shared stories on social media, a UK actress recorded her ‘secret’, yet very public, Facebook video-diary. She mostly shared her frustration about her husband who just sat in front of the telly all day. She shared this with her hordes of online closet friends rather than with the person she had the issue with. Every day she taped herself inside different closets and under stairs in a state of increasing fury, whispering her disgust to her online followers, who could not have included her spouse. I finally lost interest in following her love-turned-to-hate drama, but hope they survived the pandemic. If not, she was not alone.

Closed inside. Photo © Karethe Linaae

The still primarily Catholic Spain has one of EUs highest divorce rates, with close to 60% of marriages ending in separation or divorce. Not surprisingly, the pandemic only accentuated this trend, as couples were forced to be cooped up together during extended lockdowns. Involuntary confinement can generally do one of two things - it brings out old wounds and highlights problems, or it makes your love stronger. In many cases it led to divorces. According to the Italian National Divorce Association, the country’s divorce rates grew by 60% in 2020. Too much pasta and not enough patience?

The husband, from painting in Ronda restaurant. Photo © Karethe Linaae

 

Now for the real serious facts. The pandemic saw increasing rates of domestic violence all across EU. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), women usually face most danger from people they know. Though every country in the EU introduced special measures to protect women from intimate partner violence during the pandemic, shelters and domestic violence hotlines did not always have the funding to provide the support needed.

Anger. Photo © Karethe Linaae

The added stress of being confined can make abusers more volatile, while the increased privacy of a lockdown will allow them to continue with less chance of being detected. On the other hand, the victims feel a double threat during a pandemic, fearing the aggressor indoors and the virus outside.

Window, Amsterdam. Photo © Karethe Linaae

 

France saw a 30% increase of abuse cases in 2020, and even more in urban centres. What is called ‘silent requests’ for help (usually email or SMS) by abused women went up by 286% in the first 2 weeks of lockdown in Spain. In the Canary Islands a secret code was developed where women who were victims of family violence could go to any pharmacy and ask for a ‘Mask 19’, and the pharmacy would contact the emergency services on their behalf. Mask 19 has now been adopted across Spain, as well as in other countries, including France, Italy, Germany, Argentina and Norway. 

Fist. Photo © Karethe Linaae

I think we can introduce a new expression into the English language:
Trial by Covid.

My son moved in with his girlfriend for the first time just before the pandemic. They not only survived a quarantine together, but also months of being laid off, a landlord from hell, contagion, tests, and an involuntary move while both of them were suffering with Covid. If all of this didn't split them up, what will? I do not have a crystal ball, but now believe their prospects are fairly good.

Future awaits. Photo © Karethe Linaae

Personally, I am pretty much the worst example when it comes to longevity of love and marriage, right behind the American author Erica Young, who in her book Fear of Fifty spoke of her numerous failed marriages. However, my third marriage (though technically I suppose I married four times, but ‘what happens in Venice stays in Venice’) has lasted a surprisingly long time, even through the pandemic. I am not saying we are like turtledoves all the time, and there are times during lockdown that my husband was lucky that I didn’t have a mallet handy, but we are still together. And after having survived nearly three 7-year itches and a global pandemic where we had to spend the first 2 months enclosed 24/7 in our 100 m2 house without tearing each other apart, I'd say that there is hope for us as well.


On we go. Photo © Karethe Linaae

So, for God’s sake, or for Love’s sake, let us hope we soon can speak of this whole phenomenon in the past, and of the distant days when our love survived the Time of Corona! 

Light. Photo © Karethe Linaae

Sources:
El Páis, EU, European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), BBC news, Cision PR Newswire.
Love in the time of Cholera by Gabriel García Marquez
Fear of Fifty by Erica Young

Orange tree in bloom. Photo © Karethe Linaae

Have you ever been struck by an odour which instantly took you back to a place that you had completely forgotten about? This happens to me quite frequently. I can turn a corner and suddenly I am there as a toddler in the land of the fjords, or as a 23-year-old living in Paris. The instigator to these sudden flashbacks can be anything, just as the memories they might bring – the old knitted Norwegian sweaters in the chest smelling of camphor in my childhood home, a taco-shack in an alley some place in Mexico, a tar-impregned fishing pier on the coast of Sweden, home-baking in my grandma’s kitchen, the two-seater privy at our summer house, or the sweet and smoggy stench of old Delhi.

Delhi. Photo © Karethe LInaae

Sensory impressions can take us back in time and place, and revive memories that have been in hibernation for years. Even if it doesn’t happen very often anymore, whenever I hear the Bee Gees’ ‘How deep is your love’, I instantly get teleported back to when I was a 16-year-old nervously grasping my clear as day fake ID in the line-up at a disco that is probably long-time gone. (Ok, now arrest me!) The mere look at a bottle of Matheus rosé wine makes my stomach turn, though it is decades since that drunken bout. And when I touch the keys of a piano, my modern ‘compositions’ and slamming-therapy on my parents upright piano come back to me as if it were yesterday.

In many ways, I think that our senses have a better memory than our minds.

Old pier. Photo © Karethe Linaae

Nine years ago this May, I went to heaven for the first time. Well, at least olfactory heaven. We were travelling around Andalucía for a month exploring where we possibly would come back to live when we left Vancouver. We had been recommended Valle Lecrín, a valley district in the Granada province. As we drove through the first orange grove, the scent was so overwhelming that we had to slow down to 20 km/h and open all the windows. As soon as we could, we stopped the car and jumped out, so that we really could indulge our noses in this heavenly sensory experience.

Ever since that day and for all eternity, orange blossom or azar as it is called in Spanish, will for me be synonymous with that day in the Lecrín Valley in May. So, before summer barges in far too fast, perhaps it is time to reflect on your most memorable sensory spring impressions?

Azar heaven.  Photo © Karethe Linaae