Julio Antonio Escalonilla Sánchez is a specialist in working with esparto grass and restoring esparto blinds. He has over twelve years’ experience in the trade.

The process starts with the gathering of esparto grass, which he does himself. He then sorts the esparto, separating fresh and… dry grasses. Fresh esparto is left to dry and then crushed with a wooden mallet to strengthen its fibres. Dry or yellow esparto is soaked for 22 days in water at room temperature in a non-metal recipient with the water being renewed daily, which makes the fibres tougher. Once dry, the material can be used for making cord or braid. Julio Antonio normally uses these fibres for the cord with which he stitches rugs and blinds.

In restoring blinds, after evaluating them and cleaning them, he weaves plaits of esparto directly into the blind and then stitches them.

He performs these tasks with just three tools: a tough wooden mallet for crushing the esparto, scissors, and a large needle for stitching.