Lanzarote’s crafters and artisans converge on Mancha Blanca every September for the biggest date in their calendar, and one of the most important craft events on the Canaries. Here’s what you can expect to find this year.
The Craft Fair is one of the main attractions during the Fiestas de Los Dolores – the most important of Lanzarote’s summer festivals. For three years, Covid restrictions have put a stop to this huge event, but the crowds were back again this year.
The Craft Fair is held in a large marquee located next to the church in Mancha Blanca. On your way there you’ll pass a statue of Doña Dorotea, the woman who revived pottery on Lanzarote and made the “Novios del Mojón” fertility symbols an emblem of the island.
We visited the fair in 2023 – Here is what we found:
Entering the marquee, you immediately find yourself in front of examples of Lanzarote’s most famous traditional crafts- the pretty embroidered rosettes that decorate tables, walls, and costumes; the rough pottery made from clay from the cliffs of Famara; the palm-weaving that can create items as tough as a log basket and as fine as a delicate bonnet.
Montse Selva proudly shows off the gorgeous fabrics that she weaves at her studio in Tinajo. Light, but sturdy, with beautiful geometric patterns that she calls a “universal language”, the textiles have a subtle, rich beauty that perfectly matches Lanzarote’s natural landscapes.
Gisela Serra’s fabrics also reflect the gentle beauty of Lanzarote’s rural interior. She uses natural dyes from cochineal, onion, fleabane, carrots, and other natural products to create lovely delicate silk, linen, and cotton garments.
Altogether more substantial are the glossy wooden carvings of Ángel Ossorio, a woodworker who has come to Lanzarote from his home in the beautiful valley of Herminia in La Gomera. He specializes in percussion instruments, and his wife shows the chacaras that he has made – heavy castanet style clackers. He also creates mortars, pestles and chopping boards, all as practical as they are beautiful.
There are some flashes of real innovation and brilliance on display at the Craft Fair. Felip Martín, for example, is a young luthier who started out making unique guitars and timples, before using his knowledge of acoustics to create natural wood loudspeakers for mobile phones. Just drop your phone in the slot and the sound is amplified – it’s an idea that won his company Estow Studios a place as finalist in the NY Now gift fair in New York City last year.
Another stall displays amazing lampshades created entirely from the sort of plain cardboard that packaging boxes are made of. The contours of the corrugations are cut to create beguiling, fluid patterns, and the only materials are recycled cardboard, glue, and a little paint.
Recycling is a common theme throughout the fair, with several stallholders using waste or found materials to create works of art.
There are also familiar faces here, too Las Chuchis is a fashion business started by La Graciosa resident María Jesús Páez. The La Graciosa fisherman’s shirt is a well-known garment that was often worn by César Manrique, but María Jesús has given it a twist by making it out of vivid patchwork. The resulting garments are unmistakable and are rapidly becoming a symbol of the island.
María Luisa Guillén is one of the younger crafters keeping island traditions alive. Her hand-woven hats are genuine items of beauty, and she explains how the shapes vary from the more traditional broad-brimmed Lanzarote style to the bucket shaped hat that is a symbol of La Graciosa. She turns over one hat to display the delicate frame she has created from wheat stalks. Hats like this aren’t cheap – you’ll pay almost €200 for a good one – but they are unique in the world – each one the product of almost two-weeks of skilled handiwork.
Then there are the stalls where sheer beauty halts you in your tracks and captivates you – Sibisse Fayna, a jeweller from Tenerife, learnt filigree work in Mexico, and now creates intricate treasures of silver and treated copper.
MANCHA BLANCA CRAFTS FAIR 2025
The 36th edition of the Mancha Blanca crafts fair will take place from the 10th – 15th of September:
See the full programme of events:
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