Donkey Head Bottle Topper

A toast to the donkey! May it live forever.

It was once considered an inseparable working partner to farmers. Both in subsistence farming and in transport. Especially in the hill country, but today the donkey is an almost vanished species in the Algarve.

Fortunately, there are those who remember it, and who want to give it new value in organic and regenerative farming, in nature tourism, or in conservation projects.

Isidoro Ramos, an artisan born in Paderne, chose esparto to celebrate it.

Esparto is a native plant, which Isidoro watches grow in the fields and hills of the Algarve until it is ready to be pulled, between July and September.

Once pulled, the esparto is left in the sun to take on a golden tone, and is then soaked, to become softer and workable. It takes shape in braids, the empreita, which are then coiled and stitched together, using a thick needle and jute or sisal cord.

In this piece, the donkey has a prominent muzzle, alert, pricked-up ears, and almost gentle eyes. All on a tiny head, interwoven with colour, made to serve as a bottle topper.

Isidoro Ramos won't let the donkey disappear. Nor the esparto. Nor the traditional craft techniques that his grandmother's and mother's hands taught him.