Spanish students visit a wood art studio in Bilbao

On Wednesday, students of Castilian have been lucky enough to visit the art factory belonging to Susana Bartolomé, a wood products designer and student on Instituto Hemingway´s ELE course.

They saw some of the raw material used by the artist, for example, wood from different trees such as sycamore, pear, wenge, lime green, amaranth, orange, ebony and more. In total, they saw a variety of up to 50 different woods. Susana also explained the treatment and ways of working with each type of wood. Our students have been particularly surprised by the behaviour of poplar, whose wood has to be cut into circular slices, winding the saw around the trunk.

In the workshop, Susana uses different machines, including the guillotine and a smaller jig saw. She taught us some of the "exercises" she does, to practice certain techniques on different types of wood, such as embossing, a style involving overlapping metal sheets. The blades are attached with sellotape to a hard stand, the press sands it, and finally, the product is varnished; the only part of the process not performed on the premises. In the workshop, the artist has coloured glue, as well as white glue, which is ideal for dark wood. Susana now makes mostly small objects, but what she would also like to create is large sculptures; those that do not fit in the workshop and must be installed in pieces.

Five years ago, the site covered an area of 800m² and formed part of the Picos de Europa company, selling to stores as well as through decoration fairs. Our Spanish students have seen the catalogue, showing fine crafts that can still be purchased upon request, such as moldings, wood angle mirrors, picture frames, small auxiliary pieces of furniture and umbrella stands, amongst many others. Susana´s premises have now been reduced to approximately 100m², since she has now adapted to modern times and instead sells more through her website. Of all her small collections, items that are particularly impressive are her coasters, which are all uniquely designed and form a series perfect for gifts.