Isidoro Ramos

Isidoro Ramos was born in Paderne, a parish in the municipality of Albufeira, Algarve. As a child, he learned to work esparto - a native plant that grows in the hills of the Algarve's interior and in the Alentejo - from his grandmother and mother.

Thanks to its durability, esparto was used to bring everyday and working objects to life: baskets fastened to donkeys for going to market, for storing food. Alcofas (large baskets). Rugs. Isidoro's grandmother made all of these and sold them in the markets of neighbouring villages. His mother's pieces stayed at home, used for household chores.

Life moved on, and Isidoro Ramos went to work for a telephone company. But the memory of his grandmother's and mother's hands working the esparto stayed with him, and one day it returned. To his life.

 

When he retired, he didn't hesitate. He set the phones aside and went back to the fields where he had grown up. Today he is one of the few artisans in Portugal who still harvests esparto in the hills of the Algarve's interior - and shares that knowledge in workshops, art centres and artist residencies. He knows, though, that esparto demands patience. That nothing is made quickly, and that one must learn to wait.

The harvest takes place from July to September, but it is from April to May that the esparto sprouts and grows. Waving in the fields to those who wait for it.

Esparto is not cut, and it is not picked. It is pulled. It takes strength. It is then left in the sun to dry and take on a bronze tone - a beautiful golden colour. Once ready, it is soaked to regain flexibility and become workable.

That's when Isidoro sits down and devotes himself to his craft. Like his grandmother. Like his mother. In the same hills of the Algarve that saw him grow up.

Photography by Jorge Graça