Espartería San José

Antonio Rosales Yañez opened the Espartería San José in 1907 to sell tools for the countryside. Farm people from the villages around Granada came to Calle Jáudenes, as did carriers from the Valle de Lecrin and the Alpujarra and workers from the cortijos of the province. They bought tool handles and halters. Sickles hung beside sieves. Salt stones sat with cowbells, and packsaddles were sold alongside rush-seated chairs. Two artisans worked on the premises in those years. Vargas worked leather and packsaddlery, and Garrote, a picador by trade, made saddlery whose kind has now all but vanished from the fields. The shop says it has come through a civil war and deep economic crises without leaving Calle Jáudenes or the premises it has always occupied. The fifth generation of the family now runs it. It continues to buy from small artisans of the Granada area who still work esparto grass and wicker, along with anea rush and wood. The shop frames that trade as support for local craft and for the local economy. The stock has widened from farm gear to household goods. Olive wood mortars and salad bowls share the shelves with boards and cutlery. Esparto lamps and mirrors hang beside planters and rugs, and esparto blinds are cut to order. Wicker trunks and picnic baskets sit next to palmito stools and children's chairs. The address is Calle Jáudenes 3, and the shop also sells through its own website.