AOW Insider | Dreaming of Alentejo
When you first approach Alentejo you realize why Mizette Nielsen fell in love with the area. The landscapes of central Portugal are breathtaking. The scent of lavender, chamomile, and orange blossom fills the spring air. I made the journey to Alentejo this past spring to meet with Mizette just two months after she sold her business, Fabrica Alentejana de Lanificio.
Try to imagine the scene when Mizette first bought her workshop. The year was 1976 and she was a young, beautiful Dutch woman about to take over a male-dominated enterprise on the brink of collapse. Mizette saw opportunity as the factory struggled due to the ever-increasing synthetics saturating the market, competing with wool. She spotted a few mantas in the factory. These traditional wool blankets had been kept there for almost 100 years and from them Mizette conceived of the idea of sustaining the age-old technique.
Mizette grew up in Holland, studied Spanish and History in Spain before starting a modeling agency. She first happened on Alentejo during a trip for a friend’s wedding. She was taken aback by the warmth of the locals, and how inviting they were to foreigners. She fell in love with the landscape – the shades of green, the olive groves, the abundance of rivers, and of course the sunshine.
You can see the influence of this landscape within the blankets. Some signify the various seasons and its changing of colors. Other use symbolic motifs to celebrate the region’s natural features. When I asked Mizette about the colors of the motifs she said, “Have you ever looked at the country in spring?”
At the time Mizette first purchased the workshop, there were just five weavers, four of whom were men. Then it was quite revolutionary for a woman to manage men, but that is a sign of Mizette’s strong, confident character. She said she had to build their trust which took some time. Now thanks to Mizette, these traditional pieces have been protected and are still being made in the same manner as the weavers who used to wear them. They are used to adorn homes and sought out by hoteliers, designers, and individuals.
Through the early 1900s wool was cherished and seen as a form of currency in Portugal. Mantas were part of the daily life of shepherds. The blankets were historically made from two types of wool – white was a sign of elevated social status while brown was seen as less precious. But by the 70s, synthetics were streaming into the markets, making it increasingly difficult to find washers, weavers and spinners to work with natural fiber.
Blankets continue to be made from local merino wool from Alentejo but it’s no longer processed into yarn, due to a lack of demand. The sheep are still there but the economy of the area has transformed from a dependence on wool to a dependence on wine. Wool for Fabrica Alentejana de Lanificio is still sourced from Portugal but it now has a more complex production supply chain. It’s considered a leading textile in Portugal, winning a number of prizes for quality.
Today Mizette is a bit of a local legend in Alentejo. That was quite obvious as we entered a local restaurant where she was warmly welcomed by the staff. Her presence was known and respected.
After 40 years in Alentejo, Mizette felt it was time to hand over the reins and sell her business. “I wanted to transmit the knowledge and tradition to the right person,” she told me. She wanted to allow proper time to pass it on to the next owners, Margarita Adónis, António Carreteiro & Luis Peixe. Mizette continues to work at the workshop to maintain a smooth transition. You can tell it's hard to step away from a place she still calls her “baby”.
But in handing over the business she continues a tradition handed down over generations. And in that act, the textiles become more than pieces of fabric. They are pieces of history, borrowed for a time and then passed down to someone new.
Author: Annie Waterman
For more info on the project please visit: https://www.fabricaal.com