Taller Silvestre has recovered this beautiful art form, bringing back the romanticism of the process and inviting us to seek out moments to reflect on how to care for all that surrounds us. With the idea of taking some time for ourselves and restoring our connection with nature, we suggested to Alina and Verónica that we re-connect with tradition, essence, and the earth. That’s when they suggested a simple tutorial on how to make a press with something we all have: a Naguisa box.
“The art of pressing flowers, leaves, and plants provides hours of enjoyment throughout the entire process. Venturing into the countryside to collect flowers, the care taken to press them, the joy of opening the press to see the results, sorting them into groups... The entire process allows for the senses to take over and becomes a pleasurable delight. It gifts us moments of tranquility, beauty, and enjoyment.”
For Alina and Verónica, the main working tool at Taller Silvestre is a drying press with which they extract the moisture from the flowers. It is made with proximity materials, such as poplar wood, which is local to the area of the Najerilla River basin, in la Rioja. But sometimes, when they are traveling or they just run out of pressing surfaces, they use their creativity to develop new presses with materials that are within reach such as boxes, magazines, books or rope...