Throughout the past three weeks we’ve also been making our own costumes for the day of the Carnival parade where the public get dressed up and cheer the parade on. Santi and Daniel were both kind enough to lend us glue guns, scissors and old trimmings of fabric to get us going. Our new skills came into great help and we made some flamboyant costumes and headgear. The Carnival Parade was held on Friday so we got our mad glad rags on and hit the streets for another glam-tastic spectacle! The giant costumes we worked on had been secured on huge trailers which were pulled by trucks down the parade route. There were thousands of dancers and musicians of all ages in fabulous costumes and the parade went on for hours. The city was alive with street parties where everyone was dressed up in hilarious costumes. We had the time of our lives.
The following day was our last in Santa Cruz so we went to yet another festival parade where we said goodbye to Santi and his family and team. We were so sad to leave and there were lots of hugs, and invitations and promises to return. We had gained such fantastic experience with such a wonderful group of people. Our time here has been saturated with such valuable learning in creating, managing and realising a highly ambitions creative project under incredible time and resource constraints. We’ve been so lucky to have had such hands on experience in the creative process and worked with such dynamic and engaging teams.
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There was great secrecy surrounding the costumes that the designers were making for Carnival so we’ve been biting our tongues when it came to descriptions and details, even with each other! All of the costumes are created on a steel base structure with wheels. The model stands either in the centre or in front of this structure, where she is strapped in using a steel waistband on hinges. The structural shape of the costumes is constructed using welded steel. This is then decorated according to the designers’ vision.
Santi’s design mimicked an oyster with the model standing in the middle of the oyster. It consisted of different coloured layers which could fall forward when the model activated the control mechanism. We used a multitude of materials including plastic sheeting, different glittery fabrics, foam card, thousands of jewels and gems, glitter, feathers, lots of different types of trims, beads, sequins and gallons of silicone glue! Each day when we arrived at work Santi would allocate us a task. Some involved working on our own and others in groups. We’d usually work on one part of the costume and see that piece through to its fruition or move on to the next stage in a different job. The attention to detail was astounding and included an afternoon of polishing jewels and plastic sheeting. It was all hands on deck at work this week as the countdown to the main Carnival event began. The Carnival Gala took place on Wednesday and consisted of the presentation of all of the giant costumes we worked on with lots of entertainment in-between. The event was held in a massive theatre with a fabulous stage set design which included a giant Rubex cube, a giant Freddie Mercury statue, and different performance platforms. During an interval we were entertained with a cacophony of snippets of different music performances from the 1980’s, including Queen, Tina Turner, Cher, and many, many more. The performers were fantastic and the atmosphere in the arena was electric. After three weeks of work on our costume creations our hearts were in our mouths with anticipation, nervousness and excitement. The spectacle was fabulous as the costumes glittered and shone from every angle as the models paraded them around the stage. Daniel’s costumes won Queen and Dame of the event and Santi’s costume came second. We were in jubilation and rushed backstage to congratulate both designers and the rest of their teams.
Working with Daniel was an amazing experience and probably one of the best Erasmus experiences we could have asked for. Him and his team were so welcoming and truly embraced us into the team. We even got tshirts! To be part of the winning team made all of us so proud and happy, especially for the people who helped us become part of it. I don't think we'll ever forget looking at them all on stage with tears of happiness running down their faces! There was never any doubt in our mind that our dresses wouldn't win. So much detail went into them both. Just when we thought a piece was finished we were asked to add more! We spent our days putting a single glittery disk on the ends of hundreds of feathers, acquiring many burns along the way, stretching glittery material over melded and shaped wire to make beautiful wings and patting sparkling sand onto various shapes to make giant pearl necklace looking stands to make the back of the queens dress even more remarkable. Glitter/pauperiña was used in everything. There wasn't a single day where we didn't come home covered in it! We got many funny looks on the bus and tram looking like we just bathed in sparkles but it was all worth it in the end to help Daniel win. We wore our glitter with pride! On Santi’s team Elaine and Chris have been burning the midnight oil working into the wee hours of the morning on a few nights. The team have been working on a number of different costumes for the different competitions for the Carnivals on the other Canary Islands. The costumes are incredibly elaborate and there is certainly no such thing as 'less is more' here. More is more is more! We've been building up an impressive collection of blisters from glue guns and bonding over eye-melting levels of glitter and sequins! Santi’s style of leadership is very inspirational, from how he has set the workshop up, to how he manages people’s workloads. He reuses all of the materials from previous years and has ensured that these are all organised impeccably. There are dozens of different jewels of all colours, shapes and sizes, and all of these are separated in different containers which are clearly labelled. Santi and his wife Luci treat us like family. Every evening they cook us all dinner and they can’t do enough to make us feel welcome and at home. There’s a real family and community feel to working with Santi’s group. Quite a number of other local people have joined the team in the last week and the costumes just seem to keep transforming and evolving with every added touch. It’s so exciting to see these tremendous creations flourish every day. The work can be physically taxing but the rewards far, far outweigh and aches and pains.
Just before we headed into our last week in Tenerife, we could really feel the buzz of the carnival coming to life. On Friday night, Daniel had asked Katie, Darren and Emma to attend an event in the local club, Isla.
On Saturday both Daniel’s and Santi’s costumes were competing in a dance competition. The whole gang went and we were not disappointed as we watched the entire spectacle in awe. Each dance group entertained us for thirty minutes and we were amazed by the level of talent of the dancers, musicians and designers. Every group had approximately forty to fifty dancers who were rigged out head to toe in ostentatious costumes and outlandish headpieces. Each group also had their own band which had between ten and twenty people, and played for the full thirty minute set. All of the people involved have regular day jobs and do this purely for the fun of it. Their level of dedication was truly inspiring and the whole spectacle was superb. In spite of the event going on until 4am some of us die-hards waited for the judges announcements! Los Jorosperos who Santi designed the costumes for won the best costume award so we were absolutely delighted for him. Our first working week with Daniel, the designer was hugely enjoyable due to fact that we wanted to work hard and learn and experience as much as possible. We worked with glue guns a lot of the time on a variety of pieces that would make up the costumes and dresses that we would see in the carnival at the end of our Erasmus trip. We found that majority of task given to us by Daniel and the other members of the team were simple but important. Other jobs were slightly more difficult but with the help of others there, we overcame our problems and learned new skills we would use later in our work. Various team members came and went throughout the work day and all were friendly and taught us different things about the work that entailed. Also they introduced us various aspect of the Canary culture, history, traditions and language.
So far there is not a moment of this fantastic opportunity being wasted! We’ve gone on some wonderful morning adventures both together and in small groups to suit different tastes. The first few days were all about discovering our surroundings, including some lovely shops, parks and fantastic spots for a nice brunch before getting engrossed in our work day. We’ve met lots of friendly people, enjoyed some local and traditional food and drink, shopped in the amazing range of high street shops, and soaked up the sun in the beautiful city we are calling home for the next few weeks. But after a few days of taking it easy we decided to show our true colours – the weekend had arrived!
Katie, Emma, Christine and our new found Swedish friends went to explore Siam Park which is one of the number one water parks in the world. This was well worth the trip. Darren and Aoife set sail for Gran Canaria which consisted of an hour long ferry journey in search of experiencing adventure and a slightly different culture. Elaine is a glutton for punishment so she headed to work for the day! A past Erasmus student from GTI, Lisa, arrived at Santi’s workshop straight from the airport. Lisa has been working with Santi for a few months and has built up a great relationship with the Castro family and everyone working for Santi. Lisa was quickly adopted into our GTI family as well! The day ended with all of us meeting for more glorious food and a few drinks to share our brilliant experiences from the day. Great company, great surroundings, and great fun – what more could we ask for! The following day (Sunday) was much more relaxed for the majority of us. Elaine, Christine and Lisa went to explore the Sunday market. This was full of bric-a-brac, antiques, arts and crafts. We had a lovely relaxed stroll through the stalls and picked up some vintage clothes and fashion magazines. After the market and a quick bite to eat we went to the workshop to give Santi an extra helping hand with the vast amount of work which was needed. We learned on our arrival that the Carnaval has an 80's theme this year and everyone gets dressed up, so we decided to explore the shops in search of some glam costumes. We found some great vintage shops and had loads of fun trying on different outfits. Our Spanish is slowly improving and we’re making a big effort to converse with locals as much as possible. Our coffee intake has also made a dramatic increase and there appears to be a tostadas (pre-toasted bread) addiction creeping in!
Another morning some of us went to the Natural History Museum where we saw lots of human skeletons and taxidermy. This museum had a lot of information on the local flora and fauna but unfortunately none of it was translated into English. We found ourselves quite surprised at how much Spanish we can understand in spite of not having studied it. We also took a lovely morning trip to the public library which has a contemporary art exhibition space where we saw the work of Adassa Santana entitled Specto. Red de retratos. This was composed of some magnificent embroidered pictures of the human form in different observations with yarn on blank canvases. The layout and spacing of the pieces really added to the impact of the exhibit. We continued the morning with a long stroll through a beautiful park filled with modern and vintage sculptural pieces. The surrounding flowers, sunshine, and gorgeous ponds and fountains made it a calm peaceful area which we could have spent hours in. Firstly, to get to the warehouse was an obstacle in itself. Crossing a motorway and stumbling down an almost vertical hill while dodging mopeds is all worthwhile though when you walk through the massive doors into a huge room full of glitter sequins and, of course, giant dresses. It's like working in a dreamland with sparkly costumes scattered throughout the warehouse including characters from Alice in Wonderland. In our first week of working for Daniel we managed to take the wrong bus and get stuck on the wrong side of the motorway! Along with the hills of Tenerife and racing cars it took us an hour to get to our workplace. In the end we had to scale a wall and jump down a two meter drop down to a bridge across the motorway(eyes closed the whole time!). Once we arrived in the warehouse though all of our troubles were made worthwhile. Daniel and his gang told us not to worry. He offered us a pastry and told us we were part of his ‘community’.
Marivi came to meet us on the following afternoon to accompany us to our new workplaces where we met the creative directors Santi and Daniel. Elaine, Christine and Aoife are on Santi’s team and Darren, Katie and Emma are on Daniel’s team. We set up a Whats App group so we can all stay in contact and share updates.
Working with Santi Castro: Santi is a real gem. He’s very patient and kind to us and keeps the energy levels up with lovely home cooked food, cake and coffees. He is completely dedicated to creating a fantastic Carnival costume and works incredibly long days to realise his dream (approximately 18 hours per day over five weeks). The costume is out of this world in size, stature, design and detail. The scale of these creations is hard to fathom without witnessing them first hand and bling is an understatement! The model who wears this costume has to train for months prior to the event to be able to walk in it as it’s so colossal. All the designers who compete in Carnival are secretive about their designs so as to maintain an element of surprise and to avoid any inadvertent duplication of ideas. As such we’re not allowed to share information on our design, although we are allowed to take photos as long as we don’t publish them until after Carnival. The work involves a lot of cutting, gluing and assembly. There are many different elements to the design all of which require meticulous attention to detail and lots of time. We work six hours per day but will more than likely put in a lot more hours in the final week before show-time. Santi runs a really tight ship. The workshop is kept in pristine condition with all the materials accessible and organised. Every evening we do a quick clean-up of the space before we leave so we can start straight into work the next day when we arrive. Santi’s team is composed of ourselves, three Swedish Erasmus students and approximately six Spanish people. We’ve been learning loads about Swedish society, culture and education from Johanna, Anny and Stina. They’re in their final year of high school where they’re studying snowboarding and dressmaking – we were of course very jealous! Sweden is a model of good practice in terms of gender so we had lots of interesting conversations about equality. Today we met with Marivi Garcia and one of the two designers we will be working with over the next 3 weeks. We have been introduced to the work we will be doing in preparation for the carnival and are excited and eagerly anticipate what is to come....
At daybreak we bid 'adieu' to an ice enshrouded Galway and careered to Dublin airport bound for a warmer climate. We were met at the airport by Teresa who bundled us onto a bus and brought us to our accommodation. Spirits were high as we ventured out for our first taste of Tenerife cuisine and culture. Santa Cruz is a really friendly city basking in sunshine, with elements of old and new Spanish-style architecture. The creative spirit of the city was very much alive in the trees which are yarn-bombed in vibrant colours and patterns. We also happened upon a brass band practicing for 'Carnaval' so we wasted no time in cheering them on.
GTI is the largest provider of ERASMUS+ placements in Ireland and the first group of students to participate in 2016 is The Fashion Department. Six students are travelling to Tenerife to work on Carnival costumes for 3 weeks in January 2016. The Tenerife Carnival is the 2nd biggest carnival in the world after Rio so the students are thrilled at the opportunity being afforded them to be part of a world class event.
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Fashion 2016Aoife Murray Map of Tenerife |