Painting does not understand the ages. Nor in most cases on the surface. A facade or a painting, a stone or a leather, infiltrates our social imagination at a glance and is often indelible. This is not easy to achieve. Take two for more than 200 years, or even less. But this victory is what Abanicos Carbonell, a Valencian business, has achieved since the 18th century. The history of the company, which is basically a family business, dates back to 1864. Arturo Carbonell He saw “an opportunity” and plunged into “one of the business at the time” by purchasing a fan manufacturing firm founded in 1810.
More than a century and a half after those days, the fifth generation of the family, represented in his figure, thus describes it. Paula Carbonell. Throughout his career, from his shop passing through different residential areas in the city center to stay in his current state in the heart of the Russafa neighborhood, the latest representative of this series of fan creators remembers step by step what this family was like. presence reduced to focus only her father and her. What hasn’t been minimized all this time, Carbonell says, is the “100% artisan tradition”, because unlike the other three dozen companies in this alliance, they don’t import products from abroad, he points out. Resisting in Spain.
Innovate without losing your essence
In their case, although they tried to “innovate” by adapting “bit by bit” to new materials, the reality is that they “always followed the same line in production, never failing in raw material or processing”. This duality, which is a mixture of the new without leaving the essence behind, is what “makes them different” for him. He is a participant in this combination that designs and paints his own fans behind the small business. As a result, on its shelves you can see both more classic fans and more modern fans adapted to the “new fashion”.
But from this family tradition, not only does he drink his case directly. Other crafts required for the manufacture of this symbolic object – from carving to carving (a small steel tool, pencil, allowing carving) – remain connected with the past, as he himself recounts. This also applies to the case of one of his workers, “the loom and a weaver’s daughter.” “This isn’t a trade you can learn on the street, you don’t go on LinkedIn and find it. You have to look for people from a tradition,” she stresses. carbonelhe emphasizes that “there is no school, there is some support that is missing” for generational change in such studies.
because with you today Paula Carbonell and his mother, there are two women working in this trade. This is something that does not prevent the business from continuing by getting stronger, for the “family reconciliation” that they attach “great importance” by closing it every day at eight o’clock in the evening. “It’s a hot sell, I never counted how many fans I sell per year”, but he makes it clear that in 2022 they are “by far exceeding the sales of the pre-pandemic years” in an industry that has changed a lot in terms of billing. per year.
and product range From 10 Euros to 15,000 Euros -A fan that took 12 years to make by hand-, “what people want most is the best-selling silk trimmed or more special for everyday use, priced from 30 to 100 euros” . This broad accessibility, along with a “funds estimate” ensuring their survival during covid, has led to them having big brands like Dior, Loewe and Hugo Boss as clients in the past while keeping them out and in. Spain’s craftsmanship is appreciated by an increasingly diverse clientele.
Because the old man who used to be young “keeps coming to get the fan out of necessity or pleasure or whatever”. However, two profiles gain special strength. First, men are an “unknown but unique accessory” that has become the “best seller of the season” thanks to the sales boom experienced by male fans. The other looks beyond national borders because that’s as many as eight out of 10 customers, he says. carbonelForeign tourists are foreign tourists not only because they are “curious” but also because, after years of sales and promotion, Abanicos Carbonell looks “familiar” to them. Added to this is their shipment from the USA to Europe and Latin America all over the world through their online store to conquer every corner of the globe.
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This is no easy task: you have to struggle in an environment where cheaper products are emerging from other countries. Again, carbonel It’s clear where the road goes: “playing in another league” and maintaining a quality that “is very hard to match in a non-artisanal foreign product”. Also, awards like those received in the recent second edition of the Círculo Fortuny Master Craftsman Awards for Best Craftsman Career are a “joy”. Not just because “it introduces you, and that’s publicity and money”, but also because it’s “smack on the back” that you do your job well, “because today the craft is a bit forgotten”.
For now, the future of Abanicos Carbonell will continue to be based on its hallmarks: “Remain faithful to our quality and craftsmanship for many years to come.” He is confident that his children, who have been here since they were little, will not quit, although he admits that there is more time left in this process. a statement ending with a smile and another wish“to be able to continue for 10 more generations for less”.