CONTEMPORARY STAGES III (2015-2024):

Towards new generations.

“Gonzalo Mínguez Mínguez spent much of his time in his father’s bookbinding workshop as a child and adolescent. In fact, his interest in the concrete development of artistic thought led him to study Architecture and Art History at the University of Alcalá de Henares. Today, his approach as an architect has enriched the cultural legacy of the family of bookbinders to which he belongs. Gonzalo is confident in perpetuating that legacy through innovation and reinterpretation of traditional techniques that have been passed down from generation to generation. “It is clear that preserving bookbinding as part of our cultural legacy is invaluable in this postmodern society. Our goal is to be part of an international community of craftsmen exchanging ideas that will enable them to adapt to today’s world.”

Michelangelo Foundation. “Introducing two master craftsman and apprentice duos participating in the Homo Faber Fellowship program who protect and reinterpret a traditional cultural legacy.” www.michelangelofoundation.org

As it is a bit strange to talk about oneself, I have extracted this article from an interview conducted by the Michelangelo Foundation.

Fortunately, my father has always placed great trust in me. Thanks to this we began to collaborate with a design for an edition of Platero y Yo that although a bit innocent, like infants, still seems to me genuine and inspiring and reminds me of that initial phase of mosaic that Luis executed at the beginning of his artistic career.

Afterwards, and with a certain calmness, a series of works of which we make a compilation here follow one another. I believe that as he becomes aware that my studies can offer him new possibilities, my father catches his breath and – in his own words – his enthusiasm to dedicate himself to artistic bookbinding returns to him. –

The most significant moment of this new perspective came in 2024, when I finished the Enabling Master’s Degree and we were awarded the Homo Faber Fellowship.

From that moment on, our commitment is clear. The workshop has to become a bookbinding school and artistic creation as well as research is our priority. And now we are in that step carefully selecting our projects, so that the image and identity of everything we do is constant. Clear. So that we enjoy being and working together. So that when one of us is missing, the affection we have for each other remains. The memory of grandfather. A family identity.