Latest news with #Merida
Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Times
The woman making $2,000 shaggy chandeliers
As we look up at the gigantic shaggy 'creatures' hanging above us, Angela Damman smiles. 'They are dramatic,' she admits. 'They sort of take on their own personality.' We're gazing at the latest surreal-looking chandeliers that the American textile designer is creating in the studio of her 22-acre Mexican hacienda. It's located outside a rural village 40 minutes from Merida, the capital of the Yucatan. The Yucatan peninsula is known today for its idyllic beaches and Mayan ruins. Less known is that until the early 1900s, the Yucatan supplied 90 per cent of the world's rope thanks to a native agave plant called henequen. When the Spanish arrived, they referred to the plant as 'green gold' — until the money dried up in the early 20th century with the invention of synthetic fibres. When Damman moved here with her husband and two children in 2011, the plan was to do up the splendid yet dilapidated hacienda surrounded by lush jungle. (The ruined haciendas of the Yucatan are a legacy from the henequen boom.) But one day Damman, a former environmental consultant, noticed a man wearing a sabucan, a traditional Mayan field worker's cross-body bag. She was fascinated to learn not just that this woven bag was created from the famous 'green gold' but that the plant was still growing in the grounds of her family's new hacienda. 'I've always loved natural materials and the concept of seeking new ideas within existing commodities,' says the 55-year-old, who grew up on a family farm in Minnesota. Her father started one of the first grassroots ethanol fuel plants in the US using corn that was stockpiled and rotting because of the market crisis in the 1980s. An idea was forming — but she had no clue how to work with this spiky agave. It seemed as if knowledge of handcrafting the plant had become extinct. But Damman didn't give up. 'I asked my housekeeper and she found an old lady called Doña Felipa who'd been weaving henequen fibres for nearly 80 years. Her grandmother taught her when she was 12, back in the days before anyone dreamt of petrochemical synthetic threads.' With Doña Felipa's help, Damman learnt how the plant fibres were used for craft. It's a long process that involves extracting the fibres, drying them in the sun and boiling them in a cauldron over an outdoor wood fire. Afterwards comes hand-combing and colouring with organic dyes from local trees and plants. The final fibre resembles luxuriant lengths of horsehair that are then woven into textiles using portable back-strap looms. Damman then uses this superfine textile to make handbags and home decor items. As well as weaving the fibres into textiles, she also began to experiment with using the raw fibres for conceptual pieces such as the chandeliers. When business took off and Doña Felipa couldn't keep up with the textile orders, Damman co-sponsored a weaving school called the Maya Youth Artisan Initiative, which teaches young women from local communities this ancient craft. 'At first the young women weren't convinced about learning the ancient skills,' Damman says. 'Traditionally, henequen weaving didn't make much money.' She explained that the items they'd be making would earn them more because they would be reaching a higher market. She then took them to the Mayan World Museum in Merida to inspire them. 'What began as an idea to work with local plants became my life's passion,' Damman explains. 'Our goal is to support both the land and the rural communities.' She now grows fibrous plants on five acres of her property (with friends in a nearby village growing a couple more acres for her) and works with about 30 Mexican artisans and workers. Her bags and home decor items are popular, but the shaggy-chic chandeliers are her bestsellers, and cost from $2,350. 'They really are something different. You wouldn't find them in a regular lighting catalogue.' They form super-sized statement pieces in the new Noa Santos-designed Banana Republic flagship store in New York, and diners at the Los Mochis restaurants in London can eat ceviche under stretches of Damman's reimagined Yucatan green gold. One chandelier requires about 40,000m of fibre and takes more than three months to produce. Another plant that Damman uses is Sansevieria, or mother-in-law's tongue, since its fibres are softer and finer than henequen. It also happens to be one of the highest oxygen-producing plants in the world. Alongside their extraordinary shape, Damman's sculptural 'creatures' give off a unique luminosity because each plant fibre is different from the next. At this year's Mexico City Art Week she premiered a chandelier from a new series, From the Underworld. Its atmospheric colours of orange and red glowed as if they were dipped in a gentle fire of hell. The piece's inspiration is the Ceiba tree, which in Mayan belief symbolises a sacred conduit between the underworld and the heavens. 'This one really feels alive to me,' she says, 'as though it's coming out of the ground and reaching for the skies.' The concept is linked with Damman's own spiritual journey, although she jokes that her children say it looks like something from outer space, but she's fine with that. 'I love all the interpretations,' she says. 'When you keep it simple, it seems to open up the imagination.' Damman's works are for sale in London at the Sarah Myerscough Gallery,
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'I don't think we will ever have many' - what next for multi-club model?
Academy director Stephen Torpey joined Brentford in January 2023 to lead what he feels is a "clean slate" having worked with the likes of Enzo Maresca, Pep Guardiola, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden at Manchester City, while also working with Rodolfo Borrell, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones at Liverpool. Torpey is taking charge of the revamping of Brentford's academy after they decided to reintroduce the youth system. Speaking at the launch of Brentford's news academy building, Torpey explained: "I was so fortunate to be around great people at City and Liverpool - a lot of people I worked with have gone onto great things - a lot of players I've worked with have gone onto play for their teams, but I'm proud of those who didn't succeed, became coaches or play at a lower level." Brentford's growth off the field extends to owner Matthew Benham's restructure of the club into a new holding company - Best Intentions Analytics, which bought Spanish third division club Merida. Director of football Phil Giles further explained the strategy behind the expansion: "Merida will be run for its own success, first in Spain but it is also close to Portugal, so it is one of the markets many clubs look at. It was an opportunity as the previous owner Mark Heffernan was looking to sell, did good work and knew Matthew Benham already and it was sensible numbers. "There will be a conversation about a link but that's very early in the process. We will look at how Brentford can help Merida grow and win, and help players develop for Brentford. It is easy to say it but hard to do it in practice so both are successful. "I don't think we will ever have many clubs [in the multi-club model]. At this stage, we are not looking for another club but it doesn't mean we are not open in the future. We just want to do this really well and we are trying embed the relationships on the ground, settle it down and that will take time." Read more from Giles on the academy and profit and sustainability rules below.
BBC News
05-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
'I don't think we will ever have many' - what next for multi-club model?
Academy director Stephen Torpey joined Brentford in January 2023 to lead what he feels is a "clean slate" having worked with the likes of Enzo Maresca, Pep Guardiola, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden at Manchester City, while also working with Rodolfo Borrell, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones at is taking charge of the revamping of Brentford's academy after they decided to reintroduce the youth at the launch of Brentford's news academy building, Torpey explained: "I was so fortunate to be around great people at City and Liverpool - a lot of people I worked with have gone onto great things - a lot of players I've worked with have gone onto play for their teams, but I'm proud of those who didn't succeed, became coaches or play at a lower level."Brentford's growth off the field extends to owner Matthew Benham's restructure of the club into a new holding company - Best Intentions Analytics, which bought Spanish third division club Merida. Director of football Phil Giles further explained the strategy behind the expansion: "Merida will be run for its own success, first in Spain but it is also close to Portugal, so it is one of the markets many clubs look at. It was an opportunity as the previous owner Mark Heffernan was looking to sell, did good work and knew Matthew Benham already and it was sensible numbers. "There will be a conversation about a link but that's very early in the process. We will look at how Brentford can help Merida grow and win, and help players develop for Brentford. It is easy to say it but hard to do it in practice so both are successful. "I don't think we will ever have many clubs [in the multi-club model]. At this stage, we are not looking for another club but it doesn't mean we are not open in the future. We just want to do this really well and we are trying embed the relationships on the ground, settle it down and that will take time."Read more from Giles on the academy and profit and sustainability rules below.
BBC News
23-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Suffolk building site favourite Merida to train as a therapy dog
A rescue dog that overcame anxiety by cheering up the builders at her owner's work is to put her new-found talents into Leggett, from Suffolk, took in fox red Labrador, Merida, several years ago from a home where she had not been trained or socialised 2023, he decided to take Merida to work with him on building sites across the county - where she gained confidence and delighted his her thrive with his colleagues, Mr Leggett said it had inspired him to start training her as a therapy dog. "I could see that there was something in her that needed to be brought out and I fell in love with her," he said. "It took a long time for her to get used to being with people," Mr Leggett said."I've had dogs most of my life and sort of got to the stage in my life where I was looking for something else."He asked for permission to bring Merida to work, and his employer Holmes Plant & Construction agreed."I'm very lucky because my boss Ben Holmes is a country boy and they love animals," Mr Leggett continued. "So he gave me permission to take her to work with me, then very luckily I met people like Neil [Pryke] from SEH French who I asked and they said, 'Of course you can'."Because she's so well behaved and so brilliant, they even built a purpose-built pen here for her to be on site with me." Mr Leggett's colleagues often are found in his van playing and spending time with August she took some time away from the building sites when she was diagnosed with cataracts in both eyes, but underwent successful surgery and was back on site several months Leggett said seeing the effect his dog had had on people had led him to start training her as a therapy dog, which he said has been going very well. "I just love her to bits, it's as simple as that," Mr Leggett added."She's fun, she's loving, she's got her work mode and when she's is engaged she's just incredible."I don't think there's a proper word for her, amazing doesn't sum her up."This has given me something more to live for." Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Reuters
15-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Brentford owners buy Spanish third-tier club Merida
April 15 (Reuters) - Brentford owners Best Intentions Actions has reached an agreement to acquire Spanish third-division club Merida, the Premier League side said on Tuesday. Merida, founded in 2013 after the dissolution of predecessor Club Polideportivo Merida, are fifth in the Primera Federacion standings, the third tier of Spanish football. "We are aware of the club's history and identity, and respecting that is something very important to us," Brentford chair Cliff Crown, who is set to become Merida's club president, said in a statement. "The project at Merida will continue on the same basis as it is currently, maintaining the foundations of the great work that has been carried out so far. "This was another key factor in our decision to commit to this club, along with the fact that it has been run on a sound financial footing." Brentford were previously part of a multi-club system alongside FC Midtjylland from 2014-2023, until owner Matthew Benham sold the Danish side to Anders Holch Povlsen. "Being integrated into a well-established and internationally respected methodological structure in the world of football is a source of pride," director general of Merida Alejandro Perez Robles said. "... it reaffirms the work carried out by the club over the past four years, during which solid foundations have been laid for its future development."
