|
|
| |
 |
Just a few times an image of a community is connected to
an art product, the city of Albacete is represented by the
cutlery industry and many are the local and foreign writers
that had been doing echo of this inseparable union.
It was 25 years ago when it was still possible to see pocket
knife sellers with a wide variety . They used to carry them
to train, buses in order to offer this merchandise to the
travellers, today this ancestral image had disappeared.
Such a tremendous influence had this pocket knifes that
people form Albacete still keep the tradition of not given
it as a gift, but selling it in a symbolic prize because
otherwise their friendship can be cut.
Some authors like Hermosinio Parrilla in 1765 or Merino
Alvarez, in 1915, or Rodriguez Lorente, in 1967 had affirmed
without showing their sources which they had been based,
that this activity was a heritage from the Muslims, some
stylistic and iconography characters in the pieces and many
documents seem to show it like that.
It is also said that Chinchilla was one of those Islamic
important characters that influenced on it.
The first obtained news are very scarce, they date from
the XV century and give the impression that the cutting
activity in Albacete didn’t have relevance yet.
From the XVV century we have a few references as well,
but some of them can show certain development and form this
time we have the most ancient samples some of them are of
them are tongs made by an artisan called Torres in 1573
and some other samples like blades for writing area which
belonged to Rico and Sinobas collection. On the second half
of that century we already have documented testimonies with
names of many people form Albacete.
|
 |
There are many testimonies form the XVII century and many
pieces dated from the last third of the century which means
in that time without any cause Albacete already counted
with an outstanding and consolidated knife quality as well
as pocket knives, blades for writing and dagger industry.
The 90% of this workshops were located on Zapateros street
and a small group, 16% of the registered cutters in Puerta
de Chinchilla (door of Chinchilla) .
The location and the names of many cutters of this village
are know now thanks to investigations and research made
by Martinez del Peral , among this workers there were some
outstanding ones like Alcalde Arias, Benìtez Garcìa,
Gomèz, Martìnez, Montero, Torres, Vicèn
Pèrez and Ximènez.
The document testimonies as well as the pieces of work
were already plenty on the XVIII century, this is for certain
a splendid time for the cutlery industry form Albacete,
even when the restrictive legislation affected in a big
part the production became plentiful through the century,
besides the gremial system started going down and very famous
population in this activity like Toledo were involved in
a big crisis. Only the workshops of some Catalonian centres
and form Albacete kept a high productive and artistic level.
In 1765 when Hermosino Parrilla compared the pieces of
both zones, describes that all the pieces from Albacete
are curious and excellent it was so good that
the pieces from Barcelona, but in the grading process the
pieces for Albacete were superior.
The document contributions from Martìnez del Peral
allow us to know that the registration of workshops diversified
in relation to the past century, it means they were not
located as central as before: Zapateros street. With a 32%
of the registrations continued as the central part of it,
but this zones as the surrounding ones lost influence in
the village because only 40% of the Menestrales were left.
On the other Hand La Puerto de Chinchilla area not only
kept its importance, but also expanded through many limiting
streets.
|
 |
By the end of the century around 18 professional cutters
were still working. Trough the century we can find excellent
art workers some of them already mentioned before and some
new like: Arcos, Castillejos, Cortes, Garixo, Griñan,
Leon, Lòpez, Munera, Romero, sevilla and Sierra.
In the XIX century the testimonies said the cutting history
form Albacete was known in all Spain and in different places
in Europe, related to this are many economical informs,
manuals, dictionaries, traveller books of that time in them
was possible to find the first data of production usually
contradictory, the information was completely unknown for
earlier periods.
It is considered important to mention three significant
characteristics for that century, the celebrity and considerable
production that the cutlery industry form Albacete had reached
in spite of the serious commercial confrontation of foreing
productions which invaded the spanish territory and the
retrictions that a rigurous legislation prohibited, impossed
on the other hand the unexistent reference in sources related
to blades for writing (blades of writing-desk), which matches
the well preserve pieces circunstances which lead us to
think that this explendid blades for writing were not made
anymore since the beginning of the century ? and finally
the last characteristic was the implantation of serial industrial
procedures.
In this century is still noticeable the progressive spreading
of workers from the west side of the village, later in 1847
65% of the cutlers, and 40 years later in 1887 a small neighborhood
called San Josè which was located in the laready
mentioned zone gathered 60% of the forges; only one street
called Santa Quiteria gathered 20% of the population which
included the name of 58 people, all of them were men whose
profession was cutling industry.
|
 |
At the end of the
XIX century, the cutling industry sector had considerable
difficulties to sell their products and with that technique
began the recently cocluded XX century. Information that shows
biography and documentation are frecuently contradictory perhaps
it was due to the reason that a coca was the one collected
by the official estadistic information especially the one
with contributory reasons and was for these reason they were
elaborated in such a criteria and conditions, and another
one totally different was a real situation. The most outstanding
factories durign this time were the ones that belonged to
justo Arcos Aroca, lopèz and company, Sanchèz
brothers, Joaquin Zafrilla and the industry, some of them
had already incorporated the electril motor.
A document of 1908 shows the process of transformation
that had been produced in the cutler sector of the city
with the polarization of this document small factories,
and wrokshops as well as the big ones has a trnsformation
from handmade process to a complete industrialized one,
with this industrial pattern the 2 first decades of the
century began, many cutlers were flattered by this situation,
for this population all of this changes meant the first
war world, these cahracteristics were perserved until the
50`s, in this period appears a business man who was ready
to invest and risk the mercantil industrial and finacial
projects.
In 1925 12 new factories began to work pocket knives, knives
as well as small workshops, around 400 workers used to produce
more than 30,000 dozen of pocket knives.
In 1930 Sànchez Sànchez mentioned that the
14 main cutling industries employeed 434 workers and 8 of
them had a production that went
over 100 dozens anually , then 4 of them had a production
of 150 dozen of pieces each week.
The total capacity of the group was 72,000 dozens anually,
but later the lack of demand limited the production to 40,000.
|
During the 50`s durinng the Spanish conflict,
appeared a very noticeable crisis mainly between 1955 and
1959 only three workshops had more than 10 workers and only
one had more 15, on thi also affected the contradictory legislation
because in 1945 a new lwa was published , that still remains
today , to forbid the pocket knives which tip blades goes
11 centimeters. New stormen appeared and multiplied their
provided material to the small shops and later they also brought
their production, this was a great adventage in relation to
the factories because this storemen didn`t have social expenses.
The small shops began to work by personal deliver to costumers,
this allowed them to reduce expenses.
Their job was mainly made by hand and completed pieces
theri job with complementary pieces they got from workers.
These coming and goings form some workshops to other ones,
was so noticeablem, that was possible to see apprentices
leaving and picking things in baskets which were carried
on their bikes, this situation became a characteristical
city issue .
Later the development od 3 or 4 firms, which were supported
by the national fair of cutling industry in 1965, and later
for the ones that appeared, impulse industry again which
began to look for the new markets.
In 1971, around 100 small workshops worked in connection
with 5 more outstanding firms that led the process of 14
f them were in Albacete and was in Madrigueras.
In 1975 existed 74 cutling industries with 500 workers
, 40 of them were sort of familiar , since then factories
began to spread, reaching a production of more than 5`500,000
units , small parts of them were exported outside the country
, it was just 1.5 % form the total value.
This industry had great importance in the national sphere
because Albacete and Cuidad Real had 58% of the total in
all the registered firms in all the nation.
|
|
|
During the consecutive
years many firms modernized eventhough this process was irregualr
originated in causes of different nature, this transformation
also polarized some mechanicalized and serial factories which
had a production of pocket knives, cutlery etc. Other small
workshops where the handmade process still existed were also
part of the transformation , (this small workshop pieces gave
artistic prestige to the city). Yet legal restrictions appeared
again and in 1981 new norms forbid some sort of pocket knives,
this was a negative point for the industrial goals, yet the
sector went through all of this obstacles getting in action
their characteristic qualities, effort, constancy and imagination.
Today there are 70 firms , they employ over 2,000 people
and produce about 10 thousand million of pesetas anually,
without counting on the auxiliary industries , from them
2,500 are form exportation.
During the last quarter of the last century, most of this
sort of business had been going down or leaving these traditional
zones, producing another transformation in cutling industry;
this fact originated a new concentration now only factories,
mot of them are located by the industrial Polygon “Campollano”.
New energy comes form the cutlers of Albacete, the creation
FUDECU is a practical sample, and a result of its activity
is the creation of the school fo cutling with this as the
tradition of the masters of the old times used to say when
they templated the blades, “ buen temple abremos si
dios quiere” a proveb.
The artistic cutling industry is by now practiced by a
few cutling masters, however their creation reach great
quality and beauty.
|
|
|
|
|
|
