Os Muíños Handicrafts

The mindoniense neighborhood known as "Os Muíños" (The Mills) is located in the outskirts of the urban area, at the foot of one of the traditional entrances to the city. In this area were concentrated since ancient times, an important number of craftsmen that with the exercise of their trade, supplied the city and the surroundings: mills, forges, ceramists, stamp makers, etc. and this could be, thanks to two water channels that cross the neighborhood and provide the necessary strength to move the machines of these small industries. The water moved the mill to make flour, moved the hammers of the forges and even moved dynamos that allowed these workshops to have electric light autonomously. Today, following the artisan tradition of the area, some workshops are preserved in the place that keep alive the first reason for the existence of the neighborhood. Thus, we find a stonemason, a puppeteer, a pottery, an art workshop and a little further away the silkscreen printers. Stone is part of our lives, of our history. It is in our houses, in our monuments and in our literature. The work of the stonemason is the conversion of stone into art through the characteristic sound of this craft, the continuous hammering. Here is the passage from Stone to Art, here we can see that almost magical transformation of the inert into something eternal. All of us, at some point in our childhood, discovered the magical world of puppets. Nowadays, surely more than one of us would be watching one of these representations made by puppets without being able to look away from them, because of the energy they give off despite being so small. In Mondoñedo there is a workshop where you can observe these little dream makers and you can also see how all the necessary elements are made to make them work. This is a great little theater within reach of those who know how to enjoy it. The conjugation of the clays and the action of the hands can lead to unsuspected forms. Pots, bowls, jugs, basins or simple flowerpots are the forms of the earth that are created on the various lathes that the pottery has. And the art itself with its workshop. Where iron is forged, twisted, molded and not only this but also the stone combined with it or alone. Art in its purest form. The technique of passing ink through a fabric stretched on a frame to make a print, is something very old and much more complex than it may seem to us laymen in the field. Screen printing is represented here in a workshop where designs and motifs based on Galician nature and culture are made. Everything is done by hand, with great delicacy. The molds are prepared, the fabrics are printed with natural colors and everything is made with environmentally friendly products. An art workshop with works of art to wear and show off at any time and place.