Juan Manuel Molina Baena

In the name of the olive tree

• Juan Manuel and his family were early adopters of the blog to find an audience
• For him, the difficulty of working olive wood is part of its magic
• He invites his customers to practice a more responsible consumption

As a child, Juan Manuel Molina Baena made toys out of olive wood for his brothers and neighbours in his hometown of Jaén, which is a small town in the Andalucia region of Spain in which the main industry is growing olives. His father, also a craftsman, had instilled in him that there was nothing in his imagination he could not do. Juan Manuel first studied metallurgy and set up a metalworking and carpentry workshop. At the age of 45, he made his first cutting boards and other kitchen utensils from the olive wood that the farmers in his village discarded after the annual pruning. Realising the value of his products, in 2011 his son Juanma started to sell them on his behalf online. Success was immediate, and with the help of his wife and children, Juan Manuel turned this task into a thriving family business. Today he is a renowned craftsman in his region and beyond. For him, the olive tree has its way of behaving. He transforms his wood with respect and passion into sustainable objects that promote responsible consumption and quality over quantity.

Interview

©Jumo Aviles

©Jumo Aviles

When and how did you start?

In 2011, we opened a small blog and became the first artisans in our region to sell our cutting boards and other kitchen utensils on the internet. Little by little, we learned and improved both the atelier and our online sales and the variety of our products.

How would you define your artisanship?

Our pieces stand out for the strength of our work. We try to get the best out of the olive tree. In our final objects, made from its raw material, we reflect its origin and the respect with which we treat it. Consumers can tell.

What is the relationship between your profession and the region where you live?

Jaén is known for having the highest concentration of olive trees in the world. In a planet increasingly threatened by climate change, we set out to transform olive tree trunks, the natural resources of our territory that until recently were considered waste, into valuable and useful objects to face the future more sustainably.

Could your craft be in danger of extinction?

On the contrary, we believe that the craftsmanship we do promotes an appraisal of the quality of objects according to their provenance. It allows us to understand the work and effort that goes into creating something. It takes us away from the mindless consumerism that is so common in the way we buy and use things today.

Juan Manuel Molina Baena is an expert artisan he began his career in 2008

Works

©Jumo Aviles

©Jumo Aviles

©Jumo Aviles

©Jumo Aviles

©Jumo Aviles

Where

Experiences

Hands-on tour of olive wood workroom

3 Hours

25 EUR per person