José Antonio Cerezo

From marketing to making

• José Antonio is an experienced woodworker turned guitar maker
• He originally worked in business marketing
• He has evolved his practice into teaching at the school he set up

José Antonio Cerezo, a passionate and experienced woodworker, had a first career in marketing before turning to guitar making in 2012. With the technical instruction of Arturo Sanzano, renowned guitar builder, he learned the mastery of this craft and opened Glissando, the first craft school specialised in custom Spanish guitar construction in Madrid. With the help of Arturo and his own son, José Antonio designed the workshop layout where he teaches students, coming from all parts of the world, to make their own Spanish guitars. He encourages their own interpretations which leads to variety in vintage, acoustic or electric guitar models being crafted. “There is no other atelier like Glissando in Madrid. My students, apprentices and I do not settle for traditional processes, models, and standards. We have a constant concern for testing, improving, and optimising the instruments in response to whatever new technology we can access.”

Interview

©Elena Arroyo Botana

©Glissando

What is your previous experience with woodwork?

It goes back to my adolescence when I made wooden toys at home. Later I would restore antique altar pieces and finally I set up my own business to construct large format wooden backdrops for theatre stage-sets.

Why do you consider your craft school unique and innovative?

There is no other one like it in Madrid. Perhaps it is not technologically cutting-edge, but my students, apprentices and I do not settle for the traditional processes, models, and standards that we know now. We have a constant concern for testing, improving, and optimising instruments-making to whatever new technology we can access.

What is the general profile of your students and the skills they develop at Glissando?

Curious, cosmopolitan, with a digital mindset. Though we receive students of all ages, the average is between 25 and 42 years old. Discovering solutions to problems along the way is when they learn the most and their perseverance to bring something so technical to life is their greatest satisfaction.

What does the idea of well made signify in your craft?

Many relate well made with perfectionism. People who are perfectionists generate frustration and fail to move forward. To me well made is when the objective has been fully achieved: a well-conceived guitar with technical accuracy that gave you pleasure and satisfaction in creating it.

José Antonio Cerezo is a master artisan: he began his career in 2012 and he started teaching in 2012

Where