The unique and exclusive work, protagonist of the Christmas Craft Fair

The borders between art and crafts have been blurring and good proof of this can be seen since yesterday at the Christmas Crafts Fair in the Multipurpose room. If there is something that unites the 78 exhibitors (textile, glass, leather, wrought iron, wood, jewelry...), in addition to creativity, it is the determined commitment to unique work. There are styles and ways of doing things, but all the participants have wanted to offer the public exclusive objects. "We are an ant that fights against the Goliath that is the internet," says Susana Martín, president of the Association of Craftsmen of Aragon, "and that is why we attend events like this one, hoping that the public will come to see us and buy because, if it is not Thus, the sector disappears. And we are very transversal, we cannot disappear".

A quiet walk through the fair shows that a good part of the creators are women and, furthermore, that many of them live and work in 'empty Spain'. The observer will find numerous surprises. Susana Martín herself, for example, offers pendants with butterfly wings (from farms and collected once the insects have died). But there is much more. A few meters away, Alexis Maass presents some beautiful paper figures crowned by tillandsias, a genus of plants that does not need soil (and hardly any water) to live. "You have to put them under the tap once a week and that's it," he says. He receives them from nurseries that cultivate them in Malaga and Barcelona, ​​and he takes advantage of their particular physiognomy to represent the hair of his figures. Prices? Between 45 euros for a decorative figure and 60 for a lamp. But fridge magnets much less.

And that is another of the characteristics of the fair, although in reality it already was in previous editions. The sector has suffered a lot from the pandemic and knows that the way out of the crisis is to offer quality products for all needs. Between 5 and 150 euros there is a whole world of possibilities.

Jewelry has been one of the big stars every year. And their presence grows in quality and quantity because the training work being done at the Zaragoza School of Art is noticeable. This is where Carmela Cardiel came from, a woman from Calador who turned her life around to become a jeweler and who presents an amazing collection in which she ennobles materials such as recycled copper, peanut shells or pinnace. "I treat the black stone from Calatorao as if it were a precious stone," he emphasizes. And it also presents some transformable pieces (necklaces that become brooches) that invite you to interact. Everything, between 15 and 145 euros.

This is the first time she has participated in the fair, as did Marian Núñez and Lalo Barragán, who at the Creaciones Nómadas stand present a collection of mestizo and mineral jewelry. "I have been working in jewelry in different countries of the world for 10 years," says Marian Núñez, who is also an illustrator. "Most of the stones we use in our work are selected by ourselves at the quarry," adds Lalo Barragán. The price range in which his pieces move is between 15 and 150 euros.

The fair is very Aragonese, with emerging firms and some, like the ceramist Fernando Malo, who have been a reference for many years. But there is also space for creators from abroad, such as Ester Lorenzo from Cantabria, who at Calabazas con Vida presents unique bird figures made with empty pumpkins (between 15 and 59 euros). "I've been making them since 1986," he points out. "It's a noble, soft material that doesn't break. Every pumpkin has its bird and every bird has its pumpkin."

From further afield, from Saint-Béat, in the French Pyrenees, comes François Marquet, presenting a unique and hyper-realistic collection of hand-modelled animal figures. A bull can be obtained for 40 euros and an iguana or a mammoth for 170. But he seems to have assimilated the Aragonese somardeo because he warns, smiling: "But those prices are here. On the other side of the Pyrenees they go up a lot."

The fair can be visited until the 12th, from 11:00 to 14:00 and from 17:00 to 21:00.