About me

Basketry artisan - This traditional palm leaf basketry artisan learnt her trade from a very early age, watching her grandmother and her father work on the baskets, she learnt to plait leaves with them. Over the years, María discovered that she loved folding palm leaves. She learned the whole process starting from the beginning: cutting the branches, preparing the palm leaf, making the plaits, sewing... everything up until the stage of the finished products. Little by little she learnt how to make all those products that people needed on a day-to-day basis by hand... Today, some of these products have become museum pieces because they have fallen into disuse.

Location

Calle Lugar de Abajo, 7, Pájara

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About my work

"My work, using palm leaves to make plaits that are then transformed into baskets for different uses, forms part of Fuerteventura traditional culture. Nowadays we have to reinvent ourselves so we can make a living and continue with the tradition. I make all the pieces in the traditional way, and I have also been innovating and adapting myself to these new times. I consider myself to be a professional artisan, demanding with my work; that's why I continue to train, study and create new shapes, to make designs and hand-made palm-leaf baskets. "May that magic that you feel when you walk into a palm-leaf workshop and the aroma that the palm fills us with... ...never be lost!". Palm-leaf artisans like María create things for different uses: sewing baskets, panniers, brooms, mats, typical Fuerteventura hats, peasant hats, bags, animal figures, flowers, bookmarks...

Fuerteventura

"The basketry work reflects the colours of the earth, the aridity, the need to use the elements that grow in that earth (the palm trees). In the past, thanks to this raw material, many of the needs of the people living here were covered. "As you can see, basketry has a positive influence. It starts with the pieces that I make that tell you something about Fuerteventura; the baskets to carry the fish from the seafront, the hats to protect us from the sun, the panniers or palm fronds for our delicious Fuerteventura cheese, the baskets loaded with prickly pears from the mountain...they all talk about Fuerteventura".

Interview

María Hernández, Our Canarian Craftsmanship - "I am from Pájara and I still live in Pájara. I am a Majorera: born and raised in Fuerteventura". María Hernández represents the core essence of the island and embodies its traditions and craftsmanship with her basket weaving; a tradicional Canarian craftsmanship that she brought into modern times. Maria learned basket weaving through her family,…