La Belle Valence !
magazine edited in paris by vincent moustache 2017
"El traje tradicional de la mujer valenciana, es para mí el más inspirador y preciosista de los trajes regionales del país"
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"The traditional Valencian woman dress, is for me the most inspiring and precious among all the regional dresses of the country"
JOSEP FONT
lA belle Valence !
Most of the people think that the city of light is Paris. But, indeed, if we put more cities in the balance, maybe Valencia have a good position in the list because its beautiful light. Sunbathing in the Mediterranean east coast of Spain, even during soft winters, the city and the region enjoy 300 days of sun at year.
This year, and specially this week, Valencia have a lot to celebrate because their main town festivities, Les Falles, have been declared UNESCO cultural heritage. This party is a bit crazy and highly artistic. They build huge monuments made with paper and wood (other materials too) to be burned them the 19th of march (Saint Joseph, carpenter Saint day). This ephemeral constructions are colored giant sculptures which represented all the bad thing in society we want to make disappear. Originally, this festivity marked the end of winter and the beginning of spring and starts with the carpenters of the city throwing away the old staff and burning them in the streets. In fact, in this region, the people got the art in the DNA. In each town, even the smallest, there are a musical schools and everybody is related to music, to a band, chorus, dancing or playing theater and musicals.
One of my favorite book (I'll talk to you about it for years) it is called "Petit éloge du petit déjeuneur" ("Praise to Breakfast" - PERFECT FOR US!) by Thierry Bourcy, published by Folio. In this book the author explains the breakfast as a ceremony to reconstitue the body after the night. The night is where the dreams and excess lives. The breakfast breaks with that, it is the starting of each day, the starting of the life and the beginning of the light. And, of course, I know you've seen this, the most typical fruit from Valencia is also one of the most typical element in a breakfast: The Orange Juice, that winter fruit that needs the Valencia soft weather and that particular light to grow.
The painter Joaquin Sorolla, Spanish impressionist from end XIX & beggining XX century, based all his technical painting career in this light. He studied and observed it several times in the Valencia's beach. He used to paint as his brush were making the waves of the sea, reflecting the light in an sparkly effect, as the water does. When I was a kid, I remember how I was shock by the effect he produce on the character's skin, making them look like wet.
For this spring summer season, also Delpozo's creative director Josep Font has been inspired by the Valencia's light. In this collection, he crossed Sorolla with the artist Soo Sunny Park (Sunny? light again). The white pieces are made with patterns that looks like garments moving on the wind near the sea, as Sorolla captures in his paintings. Also, the prints and colors used can be easily related to the city of Valencia and the land around, between orchard and sea, remembering a bit the colors and textures of the traditional Valencian fabrics (That at same time come from a long story the city had with the production of silk and the ancestral silk road).
For the other side, the artist Sunny use metal and plexiglass to create installations that look like a fish or dragon skin, making organic constructions. The color is changing in each piece of plexiglass and it change depending of your position from the installation, making the viewer a active part of her work. For me, personal opinion, this pieces from Sunny could reference to another artist-architect, Antoni Gaudí (end XIX & beggining XX century - Main figure of the Catalan Art Nouveau) especially in relation to his ceramic work, that literally did a evolution from mosaic to practically a collage. We can especial appreciate it at La Casa Batlló (Barcelona 1906). For this project, the genial architect had the intention to redirect better the light inside the building using ceramic whit a diamond shape, shape that Sunny has used too. That iridescent effect (Violet, blue, green, pink, yellow, orange... all at the same time) that covers all the Sunny work, for me, is also similar as the skin of the façade of this stunning building in Barcelona. Closing the cercle, city which is the hometown of the creative director Josep Font.
"LA BELLE VALANCE !"
lIVING FOR BREAKFAST
VINCENT MOUSTACHE
2017
Merchande d'oranges
Avec ses fruits, produit de luxe, elle vendait du soleil, de l'exotisme et du rêve.
Avant de parvenir en Europe, l'orange fit un long voyage. Originaire de Chine, la bigarade, ou orange amère, arriva dans les bagages des croisés au Moyen Âge. L'orange douce, chinoise elle aussi, importée par les navigateurs portugais au XVIe siècle, la détrôna. Puis les orangers s'acclimatèrent en Espagne. Leur fruit supportant aisément les longs trajets, il se répandit en Europe du Nord. Au XVIIIe siècle, les marchandes d'oranges parisiennes s'annonçaient au cri de: "La belle Valence!". La région de València, sur la côte méditerranéenne espagnole, était en effet devenue la pôle européen de la production d'oranges. Jusqu'à la moitié su XXe siècle, cet agrume d'appétissante couleur, qui apporte le soleil en hiver, reste cependant un fruit de luxe. On n'achète pas l'orange au kilo, mais à la pièce! Le fruit fait alors un présent fort apprécié, notamment des enfants, qui en reçoivent traditionnellement un à Noël. Le commerce ambulant d'oranges reste longtemps l'apanage des femmes, qui portent un habit soulignant l'attrait exotique de leur marchandise.
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ORANGE PEDDLERS
With her fruits, luxe products, she sales the sun, exotism and dreams.
Before arrive to Europe, the orange did a long trip. Originally from China, "la bigarade", or bitter orange, arrived inside the luggage of the crusaders of the Middle Ages. The sweet orange, also Chinese, imported by the Portuguese at the XVI century, dethrone the bitter one. Then was when the orange trees acclimated themselves in Spain. This fruit support the long trips, so they were transported to the north of Europe. At the XVIII century, the Parisian orange peddlers announce shouting in the street: "La Belle Valence!". The region of Valencia, at the Spanish mediterranean coast, has been actually the principal orange producer in Europe. Until the half of the XX century, this citrous of tempting color, which brings the sun during winter, remained as a luxe product. We couldn't buy the orange by Kilo, but by piece! The fruit was then a very appreciate gift, especially for kids, who received it for Xmas. The ambulant orange commerce was the appanage for women during a long time, who wear a coat highlighting the exotic appeal of their merchandise.
"LE PETIT LIVRE DES MÉTIERS D'AUTREFOIS"
DOMINIQUE FOUFELLE
CHÊNE.2014
delpozo ss17
