Taking advantage of newspapers, magazines and folios, they first learned to sew and take measurements of the papers. That same year they incorporated the machinery that they still use today, adapting one of them with the handbrake of a car so that one of the workshop attendees could cut. It was 1998 and, as Isa remembers, “we sewed many issues.” On the table, his hands take an advertising magazine from a supermarket, he folds it and explains that “to press the covers, it is glued on this side, it is passed to the press, you flatten it, you take it out and you glue it again on the other side.” ” and mentions that, “before, many people had old newspapers stored in their homes as souvenirs and we would sew them, put glue on the spine, choose what fabric they liked and even ask us to engrave their name. We took care of the entire process.”
“Apamp gives me independence; “What I like most is sewing.”
Isa, along with her partner Berta, is the one with the most experience in the binding workshop of the Association of Families of People with Cerebral Palsy, Apamp. This year marks the 25th anniversary since its launch at the Vigo day and occupational center and, throughout this time, numerous users of the entity have learned the art and craft of “dressing” booksworking “as equals” with other specialized workshops in the city.
While Isa applies glue to the covers of a notebook, to her left, needle and thread in hand, Berta sews a stack of blank papers that “later will be a notebook, a diary… You can do a thousand things in it! ”, he comments. Like Isa, Berta was one of the users who saw the birth of the binding workshop and for 25 years they have left their personal stamp on every agenda, notebook or book they have designed. Previously, she had been part of the textile workshop, where cushions, looms and rugs were made, but then she joined the binding sessions and liked them so much that she no longer changed them for anything: “What I like most is sewing, we make all the agendas, they all go through Isa’s hands and mine. I really like teamwork; If I didn’t like it, I swear I would stay home. And as talkative as I am… Apamp helps me get out of the house, not spend all day watching TV or reading a book, it gives me independence. I live on Avenida de Balaídos and, if the weather is good, I walk along it to come here, and Avenida de Portanet and part of Fragoso, where the sidewalks are now very well adapted, and that’s how I walk,” says Berta.
“I am happy and it helps me work on the physical part”
Gabi is one of the most recent signings in the workshop, since she joined a year ago, and points out that “my work tool has always been the computer, but manually I did not feel that I had all the necessary capabilities, so, like Rocío He insisted so much that I ended up sticking with bookbinding and I’m very happy, because it helps me work on the physical part, although there are days when I don’t feel like it,” he says, laughing.
The clock almost strikes mid-morning and Diego and Rocío ask Álex, Sofi, Andrea, Unai, Gabi, Berta and Isa if they would like to put aside their homework and have a “coffee” and a snack. While they take a break from work, the monitor who teaches the sessions, Diego Iglesias, says that “it was Isa and Berta who last year remembered that this would be the 25th anniversary since the workshop began and, when they told us, we thought we had to do something special, that’s why we decided to announce the national binding award with the aim of giving visibility to all those occupational centers and people with disabilities who work in this field.” Diego comments that, three months before Christmas, they will soon begin to prepare agendas, since there are numerous companies and individuals who have commissioned them. In this sense, this Apamp monitor indicates that “people bring us books with broken bindings so that we can fix them, they order us photo albums, special boxes… the binding covers a lot and we have the Artesanía de Galicia seal. Furthermore, the people who place orders with us tend to repeat them,” he concludes.
2023-09-14 04:37:36
#art #dressing #books
