There are words that carry with them a particular way of doing things.

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Filandón is one of them.

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The word is connected to an old tradition from the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, particularly in León, Asturias and eastern Galicia. Its origins are related to the Latin filum, meaning “thread”, and to the words hilar, filar and filazón, all related to spinning thread.

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A filandón was a gathering that took place mainly during the long winter evenings. People would come together to spin wool or linen and, while they worked, they would talk, tell stories, share knowledge, learn from one another and discuss what was happening in their community.

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Over time, the word also came to refer to the gathering itself.

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We are interested in this way of understanding a gathering: doing something together while sharing knowledge, stories and experiences.

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That is where Filandón comes from.

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Filandón is a series of gatherings organised by época around ceramics, the landscape and the people who inhabit it.

In each one, we will work with clay, learn ceramic techniques and processes, discover other crafts and ways of making, explore the surrounding area, and make time to talk and share.

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Ceramics are our starting point because they are our craft.

 

Through them, we also want to explore the landscape where we live, its materials, its ways of making things, and the knowledge that has been passed from one person to another.

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You do not need any previous experience with ceramics. Nor do you need to come prepared to teach us anything.

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Everyone can take part from what they already know, what interests them, or simply from a desire to learn and make.

That exchange is particularly important to us: we do not want knowledge to move in just one direction.

 

Alongside learning about ceramics, we also want to learn from the people who take part.

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That is why every Filandón will be different.

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The place, the theme, the activities and the people will change, but there will always be the same starting point: ceramics as a way of making, observing and sharing.

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We want to create small, relaxed and participatory gatherings where there is time to learn, work with our hands, explore the surroundings and talk.

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We have called these gatherings Filandón because the meaning of the word reflects some of what we want to happen during them: making things with our hands, talking, sharing knowledge and learning from one another.