About me
My name is Alicia, it can be said that I am a captain and, at the same time, a cabin-boy named Batiskafo. I dedicate myself to the plastic arts, I adore Art Nouveau and Steampunk, stories and fantasy in general lose me, I love nature and there is nothing I like more than to imagine, design and create beautiful things with my hands.
I believe each person is different and can not be grouped by age, sex or social status. I think we like to express this difference, to show something of our personality through the clothes, the accessories we wear or how we decorate our space. I feel that with my products I can give people another option to define themselves outside of fashion, leave the pattern that dictates the moment and decide for themselves what goes with their personality, which makes them feel better.One day I thought it would be nice to find a place to create, to have a place to do what I like and where people with a similar affinity could see it and share it. I have been working in my store Batiskafo Artesanía for 6 years, in the historic center of Santiago de Compostela and now, closer to you, in the network.
And this is the story of how my bathyscaphe began to navigate.
My childhood was in the 80's and in those years the important thing was to excel in mathematics, language, science ..., it was not thought to enhance what you were good at but rather that we all learn the same and in the same way. I just liked to draw. And instead of trying to apply myself in mathematics, what a good lack it made me, I insisted on questioning the practical utility in the daily life of knowledge of the square root.
-What do you want to be when you grow up? - There was always someone who asked you that as you grew up. -While draftsman-answered without hesitation to the displeasure of my elders, who tried to make me understand that this was not a job with a promising future.
So soon it was a real problem, what can I be when I grow up ?? !! In spite of everything, since I was a child, I have oriented my steps towards design and the plastic arts, I can say without hesitation that it has been vocational.
-What do you want to be when you grow up? - There was always someone who asked you that as you grew up. -While draftsman-answered without hesitation to the displeasure of my elders, who tried to make me understand that this was not a job with a promising future.
So soon it was a real problem, what can I be when I grow up ?? !! In spite of everything, since I was a child, I have oriented my steps towards design and the plastic arts, I can say without hesitation that it has been vocational.
So I was in my twenties, with my whole life ahead of me and having no idea what I could do with it.
And the years go by, without focusing on anything, because the only thing I like to do is that it's not a job but a hobby. Working on things without a future and taking advantage of time in different courses that in one way or another bring me closer to art and design.
When in one of those laps that gives life, at my 28 years, I find myself living in Galicia with my partner encouraging me to study sculpture in the school of Arts and Crafts. It was a great idea, not thinking about a future work, and we were in that this was just a hobby. It was only to counteract the depressive access that my work caused me at that time.
I must say that I had the time of my life, I felt for the first time in a school like a fish in the water, with all those materials, the special tools and all the techniques that opened a world of possibilities of things to do. This encouraged me to look for work as a freelance and, after finishing school, I made several works of sculpture, painting and even some models.
Then, already about the year 2011, I decide that I am going to complicate my life a little and I associate myself with a friend from the art school to set up a craft workshop shop.
We spent months preparing the business plan and shaping the project to the point that I came to feel that it already existed.
And the years go by, without focusing on anything, because the only thing I like to do is that it's not a job but a hobby. Working on things without a future and taking advantage of time in different courses that in one way or another bring me closer to art and design.
When in one of those laps that gives life, at my 28 years, I find myself living in Galicia with my partner encouraging me to study sculpture in the school of Arts and Crafts. It was a great idea, not thinking about a future work, and we were in that this was just a hobby. It was only to counteract the depressive access that my work caused me at that time.
I must say that I had the time of my life, I felt for the first time in a school like a fish in the water, with all those materials, the special tools and all the techniques that opened a world of possibilities of things to do. This encouraged me to look for work as a freelance and, after finishing school, I made several works of sculpture, painting and even some models.
Then, already about the year 2011, I decide that I am going to complicate my life a little and I associate myself with a friend from the art school to set up a craft workshop shop.
We spent months preparing the business plan and shaping the project to the point that I came to feel that it already existed.
The beginnings of my little bathyscaphe were not easy, the truth is that no matter how much business plan you make, you always find things you did not expect. In the first place, the partner lasted very little, received a job offer much more promising than working in a craft store in the middle of a crisis, so I was left alone in front of the business shortly after putting it into operation.
I had two options, close the store or continue alone. I opted for the latter, it was not something meditated and calculated professionally, but rather instinctive. I felt that leaving at that moment would be like leaving a story half-told, closing Alice's book when it begins to fall through the rabbit hole and never knowing what happened next. And I needed to know, so I continued, alone, with scarce resources and a lot of fear, but with hope for living the adventure that would be.
At first I thought I would go crazy, because I pretended to continue alone with the same store approach that we had when we were two: sell only what we did in the workshop. But that was impossible, I went to a thousand and never had stock or time to do it, the store looked very poor, despite being small and I did not stop even the weekend ...
Finally one day I got off the donkey and decided to buy product, one that was with the personality of Batiskafo, to accompany what I did and round the concept of store that I wanted to offer the public.
I had two options, close the store or continue alone. I opted for the latter, it was not something meditated and calculated professionally, but rather instinctive. I felt that leaving at that moment would be like leaving a story half-told, closing Alice's book when it begins to fall through the rabbit hole and never knowing what happened next. And I needed to know, so I continued, alone, with scarce resources and a lot of fear, but with hope for living the adventure that would be.
At first I thought I would go crazy, because I pretended to continue alone with the same store approach that we had when we were two: sell only what we did in the workshop. But that was impossible, I went to a thousand and never had stock or time to do it, the store looked very poor, despite being small and I did not stop even the weekend ...
Finally one day I got off the donkey and decided to buy product, one that was with the personality of Batiskafo, to accompany what I did and round the concept of store that I wanted to offer the public.
So little by little I got a few and select suppliers, some also dedicated to painting, who do some beautiful work ... and others dedicated to the reproduction of objects from that other time that both romantic dreamers like me, the nineteenth century.
This decision gave me a lot of relief and gave me time to design more things, although I still do not have time to do everything I would like, projects emerge at a speed that overwhelms me, but they turn this store into a vibrant exhibition of ideas, objects, art that evolves over time, with feelings and with me.
I believe that my destiny was always to create things to share, my training or my original inspiration was to give gifts with my hands to my family and loved ones. This attitude has been developing and growing to focus on more people, so now I do it for you, you have found my store because you were looking for it somehow.
This decision gave me a lot of relief and gave me time to design more things, although I still do not have time to do everything I would like, projects emerge at a speed that overwhelms me, but they turn this store into a vibrant exhibition of ideas, objects, art that evolves over time, with feelings and with me.
I believe that my destiny was always to create things to share, my training or my original inspiration was to give gifts with my hands to my family and loved ones. This attitude has been developing and growing to focus on more people, so now I do it for you, you have found my store because you were looking for it somehow.