'The Exvotos' .. ceramic artists of Seville and 'nuns of their own order'

Luciano Galán y Daniel Maldonado run The Exvotos from their home / studio, overflowing with Andalucian magic … scent, obelisks, textiles, limed floors, trompe l’ceil vintage door frames, humour and heads… lots of heads. Each piece is original, hand made and hand painted in natural and delicate tones and given a name…. an ‘exvoto’ an offering to the Gods.

 Can you tell me how you started "The Exvotos" and a bit about your background?

 The "The Exvotos" is made up of the two of us, Andalusian artists who merge the different disciplines learned in our academic training, expanded by working in workshops with different teachers.

Daniel, is a self-taught painter and trained at art school and the "della robbia" school in the art of ceramics, then to Lisbon, where he specializes in ceramic restoration, studied Portuguese techniques and works in the "Office of Castello ".

Luciano studied wood and stone carving, as well as modeling at art school, combining it with various wood restoration courses complemented by learning in workshops of master sculptors who teach him the secrets of religious sculpture. He travels to Venice where he works in "mondonovo maschere", the most prestigious laboratory of masks and sculptures in the city, modeling and creating pieces in the cartapesta technique.

The arch was salvaged from a local church and painted

Following these trips, we decided to get together and establish our own studio creating an art workshop under the name "TheExvotos" 22 years ago, because among other things we are inspired in the historical ex-votos, an offering to the gods and saints that have been made in all civilizations.

Little by little we merge sculpture and painting with ceramics, cartapesta or wood to take our art to an unusual and fun world of unique objects for decoration. From a saint to a plate, from a container head to a lamp sconce or a set of candlesticks, in short, pieces that tell stories.

-When did you move to your studio/ home and why did you choose the area? 

We live and work in the "Macarena" neighborhood because it is a historic area of Seville, very old and charming, and despite all this, many Sevillians continue to live and tourism has not yet engulfed it.

 We have had our workshop in this neighborhood for 15 years but a couple of years ago we bought the house that is now our home and workshop, something that makes us very happy because we live immersed in our work, it is a way of life. We have always admired the life of convents and nuns and suddenly we are nuns of our own order and with our own convent! (laughs)

What makes the ex votos unique in the ceramic art market?

 The first and most important thing is that all the sculptures, paintings and objects that come out of our workshop are made entirely by us, entirely by hand and designed by us, which is a point of differentiation from the rest. We work with a personalized treatment towards our clients. Although we repeat models, you will always know that your sculpture is unique because it has a dedicated treatment so that they are differentiated.

The materials we use are organic, clay, wood, paper or cloth together with ancient techniques to create pieces with a traditional flavor but with a fresh and new air, decorative art inspired by religion, nature, theater, painting or history.

We are constantly investigating the combination of different artistic and craft techniques to make our imagination come true.

 Can you tell us a little about up coming launches?

 At this time we continue to work by direct order with the client, we work with stores throughout different countries and Spain, we are about to launch a new design of crockery and we already have our first perfume for the home "SMELL OF HOLINESS ”are working on the decoration of a hotel and a collaboration with a textile company.