UNR Social Communication graduate Sofía López King published a book that highlights the manual arts that are displayed in the city.
“Arts of making” is a logbook of knowledge from Rosario. Kneading bread, embroidering Mexican style, molding clay, cultivating the land, making a book, transforming wood and reinventing alchemy are the different chapters in which these particular universes made by hand in the city unfold. Each one is an invitation to do things and also to inhabit the space-time that opens from that doing.
The author, Sofía López King, Graduate in Social Communication from UNR, says that she wanted to highlight the manual arts that, in this era of mass production and social networks, are not so recognized. The publication aims to take them out of the intimacy of the workshop, show the rituals, techniques, materials and share anecdotes of those who dedicate themselves to them. For that she appealed not only to texts but also to photos that reveal every detail of the creative process.
What makes a handmade product special and differentiates it from any other is that “the soul is left in each manual work,” says Sofía and recalls Lujan Cambariere's concept in “The soul of objects.” In this sense, she considers that the book he made is also a part of him that he gives to the person who wants to receive it.
La Comunicadora says that the idea was born in 2019 in an elective subject of the Bachelor's degree called “Reading and writing workshop” taught by Andrea Calamari and Clara López Verrilli. The goal at the end of the course was to produce one's own book. In this academic space, some issues surrounding the book are demystified, for example that it should be long, full of text or in black and white.
Students could make a collage book, with photos or a fanzine. That's where the idea arose of doing something about manual trades that are developing in the city. In that choice, Michael de Certeau's concept in “The Invention of the Everyday” came into play. Arts of making”, an author who spanned Sofía's entire career at the Public University.
“These arts of making are those smaller or insignificant things that seem to have no importance and the idea was to highlight them, to take them out of the intimacy of the workshop to show them,” he explains. This is how he began connecting with different people from Rosario who did manual arts. One took her to the other, as if by chance, she interviewed them and took many photos.
First he came to Nicolás Manzi and artisanal bookbinding, then he spoke with Javier Gamarino who came from a family of bakers and had the tradition of the trade. She complemented that interview with Marcelo Núñez, a baker currently active. Then she met Ailen Martín and his Mexican embroidery, the ceramist Fabiana Sacnun in her pottery workshop, and Florencia Neffen who showed her how to cultivate the land in the community garden that she coordinates.
Later it was the time of Carlos Ducler and his handmade wooden jewelry who claims to be a “bridger of worlds” with his creations. In the end, “Reinventing alchemy” summarizes all the work done by Manuela Teidons, who creates cosmetics from plants, so she analyzes their properties and combines them. Each of these people and their actions make up a chapter whose title is a verb that is associated with movement.
In this way, the book shows “doing in motion” with texts and photos, something that Chiqui González highlights in the prologue: “More than a book to be looked at, it becomes a way of looking. A book-object that seeks to make the reader fall in love from beginning to end: the textures of the paper speak, the photographs present metaphorical and poetic scenes: they do not illustrate, they excite. The texts do not explain, they put us in motion. The author has resorted to writings in multiple languages to make a polysemic, plural book that folds and unfolds with our imagination. A book of verbal, poetic and political construction.”
In the process of making this book, Sofía realized that she also had her own “art of making” since she had to combine many aspects: doing the interviews, taking photos, combining the information, laying out the entire production, making decisions regarding to design, typography. “Each of the steps involved in making the book, with the printing press, the tests to see how the colors come out, the decision to have it cooked so that it opens better, everything was a great learning experience.”
Something that added to his work was including handwritten writing in the book. “He made me think a lot and be able to inhabit the artisanal time that I saw in the interviewees and then I was able to live it firsthand,” she reflects. Writing in manuscript took a lot of time and dedication. “You absorb yourself while doing it, so I saw myself reflected in what I had already collected.”
This project became López King's senior thesis, based on the suggestion of his teacher. It mutated from the original idea in terms of aesthetics and design as well as the inclusion of handwritten writing and cover illustrations. “The creative process is not linear but with many ups and downs,” she highlights.
There was a moment when he let the project rest, dedicated himself to other things and returned to it. He believes that these breaks are also necessary to be able to look at it in a different way. In the end, she ended up receiving a degree in Social Communication with three of these chapters completed.
Last year he won the promotion of creative industries award from the Ministry of Culture and Education of the Province of Santa Fe, which helped him to complete the printing of the book. “It is a great satisfaction after so much time to see it materialize,” she says and highlights that this process led her to many people who opened the doors of her workshop, shared their time, their knowledge selflessly and left their marks. “I was going to do an interview and they gave me a gift, some of her creations, something I didn't expect,” she confesses.
After staring at the pages alone for so long on her screen, the expectation is now on “what her journey will be like when people read it and how it will resonate.” She affirms that this book is “tailored to each person,” that they can start it wherever they want, turn it around, manipulate it and also see what ideas it triggers to begin “an art of making themselves.”
More information about the book on instagram: @arts.dedo. It can be purchased at UNR Editora, the Municipal Editorial Bookstore and at the workshop @belle.creativespace
Journalist: Victoria Arrabal/Photographer: Silvio Moriconi