The Diplomat
The former Prime Minister Felipe González has ‘sponsored’ the first resident artist of the Royal Tapestry Factory (RFT) in 300 years, the painter Martina Rodríguez Morán, who has finished a carpet designed and woven in the factory’s workshops.
González performed the Cutting Ceremony, which marks the end of the artist’s work, by symbolically cutting the warp of the carpet to separate it from the loom where it was woven. In the manufacture of tapestries and carpets, it was traditional when the artisan weaving work was concluded.
Prior to the ceremony, Martina Rodríguez addressed a few words to the audience to explain the process of making her Spanish knot rug, a technique that has recently been declared Intangible Cultural Heritage. “My residency lasted eight months. The first four months were for research, which culminated in another four months of technique to learn everything: from setting up the loom to how to tie the knots”.
The artist said that her priority “has been to learn how things are done in the Royal Tapestry Factory, how long it takes and what skills I have to develop this technique”. A technique that has become a challenge “The most difficult thing is to control the speed. You want to see the final result soon. However, the best lines have been the ones I have woven slowly”.
With regard to the design chosen, the painter pointed out that she preferred to opt for prudence, both in the colours and in the motifs. “The intention of the design was to resemble as closely as possible the aesthetics of the classic carpets of the Royal Tapestry Factory, making different variations that turn the reading of the carpet into a contemporary element”, she said, also indicating that this carpet represents a synthesis between tradition and modern design.
Martina Rodríguez Morán came into contact with the Royal Tapestry Factory when she took part in the First Cardboard Competition for Tapestry and Carpet Sketches organised by the Institution in December 2021, on the occasion of its 3rd Centenary. `Madrid’, the work she presented in the tapestry category, was one of the 50 works selected for the exhibition following the competition, `Premios III Centenario’. Both the competition and the exhibition aimed to promote new models and designs, and to offer emerging and established artists the opportunity to transfer their work to a new format.
