// palm trees
Palm trees have existed in my imaginary for as long as I can remember. The summers of my childhood were spent in a family cottage on the Mar Menor, that salty lagoon that is part of my DNA, and palm trees were the only thing that separated it from the beach, literally 20 steps away. I love them as a concept, and symbol, up there, solitary, waving in the wind..., for me it is to plants what the giraffe is to animals... I love its name associated with the palm of my hand, its shape, its colors, its magical parts, the dates, its spathes, its flowers... A palm grove is a mental and real oasis for me, it takes me to the deserts, to the calimas of the summers of my childhood with winds from the Sahara. I remember vividly a torrid afternoon I was cycling home alone, I was about 8 or 9 years old, and suddenly all the air around me turned orange, the dust suspended in the wind made me stop, I could not breathe nor see anything around me. I remember thinking it was the end of the world, but I didn't feel afraid, that warm cloud made me feel protected and after a few minutes when it calmed down my little palm trees guided me back home. Perhaps that feeling of protection makes me love deserts and palm trees today, and somehow it has brought me now to this semi-desert land that is Cabo de Gata.
But even before, when I started making ceramics, I was obsessed with capturing a palm tree somewhere, and one of the first plates I made was this blue one, and later, although I don't usually do this kind of work, drawing in pieces, I couldn’t resist but made the ‘sah’ plate.
Recently my dream of settling down in this land has finally come true, buying an old restored farmhouse. I think the fact that the entrance to the house was presided over by two small palm trees right in front of the garage door - today converted into my workshop - was a sign for me. Seeing them while I work makes me happy. As the house has been abandoned for a few years, the vegetation is quite dry, but I trust in the resilience of my palms and hope to see them grow.
A few days ago I took this spathe from one of them it looks like a sculpture in itself, and since I hung it by the door of the workshop it has become a seed of inspiration to be recreated - I don't know how or when - in a ceramic piece. The ultimate signal was for me the palm grove there is in our way back home from the beach, I love passing by this magical place, like an oasis that has become my reference point when I need peace.
