High-quality Craftsmanship

Artisan preparation –what could be called a process of manual preparation– is the life and soul of some of the products that are designed and displayed by local creators in the windows of many of our region’s establishments. In the Basque Country there are still names that are committed to continuing to protect the essence of that which is handmade, preserving traditional techniques and including new trends at the same time; that is the example of some BASQUE LUXURY members. Here at the Basque Country Luxury Association, we support and exalt the value that these creators bring to the market with the objects that they produce, which at times can even be considered artistic masterpieces: pieces of highquality craftsmanship. It is for that reason that we have decided that our publication should have a section dedicated to artisan products – and we are inaugurating that section in this issue. With the aim of giving these creators a chance to make their voices heard, last summer we organized, in the Hotel de Londres of San Sebastian, the first public forum to disseminate the work of companies like Hartea, Casa Munoa, Lartigue 1910, Atlantis, and Liber Ediciones. The people in charge of those companies and their craftsmen told their stories and explained their production processes. Each of the companies works with different raw materials: ranging from stone, precious metals, fabric, and even paper. The talks were organized by Joseba Lekuona, the creator of stone dishware at Hartea; Claudio Munoa, a third-generation goldsmith and the owner of Casa Munoa Jewelers; Caroline Murillo, in charge of the long-standing French Basque Lartigue 1910 fabrics company; Gill Connon and Elisabeth Múgica, accessory creators at the Atlantis Boutique, and Beatriz Urrizola, manager of the luxury Liber Ediciones Book Publishing Company.

The High Quality Craftsmanship Forum was put into the context of the BASQUE LUXURY encounters program, and it was the second event open to the public organized by the association after the roundtable discussion about Experiential Luxury that took place at the Villa Soro Hotel of San Sebastian last spring.that first event had speakers like Silvia Ortega, author of the book “El nuevo Lujo Experiencial, claves y protagonistas,” Ander Elortegi, former director of Villa Soro, and two representatives of Arantza Hotela: its director,alberto Madinabeitia, and Jose Pablo Arriaga, the artist who created the hotel’s furniture and sculptures.after the success of these initiatives, this year we will organize new public forums that, from now on, will be held at our new headquarters: BASQUE LUXURY STUDIO.