How did you train in this particular technique?
I invented the technique myself. I saw the need. I had to look for the right tools and explore how to treat the material. I did things correctly. I feel I’ve been training as an artist since I was very young, right through to adulthood, always self-taught.
What was the first object you made?
I remember perfectly why all this started – with a children's game that consists of winding up a tape measure used by a seamstress and then loosening it to create a tower. It is a very childish game. It was the first thing I did. I tried to create a form and turn it into an object.
© Mercedes Vicente
Where do you find inspiration?
Nature, shells, the sea and those type of things, especially the spiral. The shell is the outward appearance, but the spiral is the shell’s internal organisation and this is what dictates the work. I'm more interested in internal organisation.
How would you define something that is well made?
I believe that is what any artisan pursues. Even if there are artisans who break the rules of the materials, it is in order to seek beauty or to try to do something well or in another way, even if you are destroying it. So, I believe that it is the essence of craftsmanship.