Who am I?
My name is Silvia Ramos and I am a designer, artisan, painter, and fan maker working with NATURAL SILK.
ManosDeAgua is the name I chose to bring my creations to life, a name that has its origin in the time I spent experimenting with the Turkish Ebru technique, spending hours with my hands creating shapes with dyes and water. That’s where this name comes from: the hands that work in the water to create shapes and colors.
My journey began with a passion for painting and drawing from a very young age, but after graduating with a degree in Chemistry, I dedicated myself to finding my own process and experimented with different materials and techniques. From 2003 onwards, natural silk became my main medium, and in it I found that calm I feel when color spreads over white silk.
My workshop in Seville
Since 2019, my workshop-store has been open to the public in central Seville (José Gestoso, 12).
This is my corner, a place where I like to show the authentic process of painting silk, making artisan fans, and offering a personal touch. Because the best way to appreciate a craft is to see it in action.
Central Seville
A Craft with Tradition: The Art of Fan Making
The first part of my workshop work at ManosDeAgua focuses on designing and painting, using steam-set dyes that are washable and permanent on silk. I paint scarves and foulards, shawls, paintings, and lamps, but my dedication has specialized in the Artisan Natural Silk Fan painted by hand.
The artisan fan in painted silk has an additional slow and careful process: Painting, setting the colors in a steamer, making the fan molds, pleating, and mounting or assembling the fan on its frame.
I am the only workshop in Andalusia that carries out this complete process. This allows me to make fully personalized fan commissions and shorten delivery times, as I don’t depend on other workshops for mounting the silk on the fan frame. Because everything is born and cared for right here, at my worktable.
For me, quality material is part of the tradition of fan making. That’s why I only use frames with the AEA Abanico Español Artesano seal. It’s the guarantee that the wood and finish have the history and craftsmanship of Spanish factories, and do not come from cheap labor and questionable wood quality.
When you choose a piece from ManosDeAgua, you carry with you a little piece of art and history, handmade with the respect and dedication with which I paint silk.
