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By Luís Serra, Ra-Ro co-founder · Authors
About 3 min read
There was a time when the donkey was the silent engine of the Algarve. It carried water, firewood, harvests and people along the dirt roads. Today, almost gone from the landscape, it survives in another form: as a donkey head woven in esparto, made by hand by Isidoro Ramos, in Paderne. This is no ordinary ornament. It is the memory of a companion that walked beside generations and nearly disappeared.
Why did the donkey almost vanish from the Algarve?
The donkey was no longer needed. Where there had once been hooves, there were now engines. The mechanisation of the countryside made a once indispensable animal dispensable. With it went the gestures, the names and the stories of those who worked at its side. This piece gives it presence again. By giving it shape in esparto, Isidoro Ramos turns an absence into an object you can see, touch and remember.
What is esparto and how is it worked?
Esparto is a rugged plant with long, resilient leaves that grows in poor, dry soils. It is the raw material of an ancient craft. The work begins in the field, with the esparto pulled between July and September, when it is at its best. It then dries in the sun, gaining firmness, and later is soaked again to become supple once more. Only then can it be woven.
The technique is called empreita: the leaves are braided into strips that are then joined, stitch by stitch. To sew those strips, Isidoro uses jute or sisal, natural fibres that respect the character of the piece. Every curve, every ear, every line of the head is born from this patient dialogue between the hand and the fibre.
Who is Isidoro Ramos?
Isidoro Ramos is from Paderne, in the heart of the Algarve. He learned to work esparto where so many crafts are learned: at home, beside those who already knew it. It was his grandmother and his mother who taught him the gestures, passing on a knowledge held not in books or schools, but in the hands. In continuing this work, Isidoro does not simply repeat a technique. He keeps alive a line of family transmission that runs across generations.
Why does this piece matter today?
In an age of identical, disposable objects, an esparto donkey head is the opposite of all that. It is unique, made by a person with a name and an origin, from a plant pulled in a specific month and worked with time. It holds two memories: that of the animal that almost disappeared, and that of the knowledge that knew how to represent it.
Bringing this piece home is making room for that story. It is placing, on a shelf or a wall, a piece of the Algarve that endures. And it is, above all, supporting those who still make by hand what so many have forgotten.
Discover the Cabeça de Burro em esparto and take with you the memory of a companion that almost vanished.
