Miguel Ángel’s workshop does a great range of carpentry work, whether for architectural elements such as beams, corbels, capitals, simple Mudéjar ceilings, etc., or for furniture and cabinetry. In the latter field, as well as designing and crafting new items to his clients’ directions, Miguel… Ángel also undertakes restorations and produces replicas.

But what this carpentry workshop is outstanding for is the manufacture of joinery, such as doors, windows, balconies and galleries. Specifically, it is notable for its wealth of experience in designing and making the celebrated Écija-style doors, with highly particular characteristics rooted in this region.

The complexity in the design of an Écija door depends on the number of segments it contains: normally one to three, although there are plenty of examples with four or five.

These traditional doors have a main outer structure consisting of uprights (right and left) and crossbars (top and bottom). The remaining horizontal members are called contracaberos, joined by means of vertical or diagonal bars called peinacerías. Into the gaps within this main structure the carpenter inserts boards or panels that may be carved or machined with a perimeter moulding. The door may be beaded or chamfered. In the former case the whole structure with the vertical or diagonal bars forms a moulding whose central part was traditionally painted carbon black or dark green. For the assembly of beaded parts, slots are cut into the vertical members for jointing to the crossbars or contracaberos, with tapa beads continuing the moulding. Doors made by this system are called a la gitanilla. In the case of chamfered woodwork, the structural elements are planed at the edges with chamfers normally of less than 45º, and the joints in this case are simpler than those made a la gitanilla.

Moreover, traditional Écija doors are characterised by their “earpieces” of various shapes, with straight or curving lines and of varying complexity. The function of these pieces is purely ornamental.

Miguel Ángel works with maritime pine or loblolly pine (less common because it is much harder) for the structure, with panels of cedar in the former case and oak in the latter.

As to tools, he uses gouges, planes, sanding pads, etc., as well as some light machinery to facilitate the making of mouldings and certain other tasks.