• Jose Carlos works with leather and colours
• He uses the Umayyad ornamental techniques on leather
• His first piece was made at the age of 14

Jose Carlos Villarejo García learned from his uncle, Ramon Garcia Romero. Jose Carlos was completely fascinated by him from a young age and in particular his specialty, which is called guadamecí. It is a technique that consists of decorating Cordoba leather. Jose Carlos has not stopped there, he has mastered other techniques such as making parchment, marbled leather, binding and openwork leather. The guadamecí technique has Arabian origins, a region that Jose Carlos is strongly influenced by. He has researched the Umayyad dynasty a great deal, delving into its history and trawling through all the documentation that exists about the craft that was produced at that time. His work is closely related to the cultural, historical and social context of the craft of leather gilding. For him, innovation is a natural process of experimentation, achieved over many years.