ibiza © Frank Heuer/laif Hausmann also highlighted its austere beauty, craftsmanship, and solemn presence when writing about the Payesa, the tra- ditional chair of rural Ibiza, in 1934: “In order to turn his work into a chair, the carpenter has hemp rope made and takes the wooden frame to the local rope worker, who artistically weaves the rope into squares, making them smaller towards the centre of the seat. Once three solid, flawless chairs have been finished, he takes them to Can Mestre in Benimussa and presents them, either individually or in a group. And the room, which until then seemed empty, is filled with meaning.” There are few carpenters today who make the traditional Ibizan chair in the only way it can be done: by hand and using a mino. One of them is Bartolomé Marí Serra (Santa Eulalia del Río, 1986), who learned to “assemble” these chairs from his retired father when he was 17: “I watched him make them out of wood and ended up learning the traditional stringing tech- nique of the island.” The origin of the Payesa, or Ibizan chair, is unknown, but its design and usefulness are closely linked to the idiosyncrasies of Ibizan architecture and way of life. “These are our grandparents’ chairs, linked to the very cul- ture of the island,” says Bartolomé, who produces around 200 chairs, entirely by hand, “in a good year.” An authentic Payesa chair is made from Ibizan pine or olive wood, and the seat is made from natural esparto fibre rope, either round or flat, with two or three strands. “The cord is traditionally woven in a square pattern, but there is also a mirallet pattern, with a staggered arrangement of several strands around a larger central square,” explains Bartolomé, adding that it takes two days to make a single chair: “Carpen- ters make chairs on demand, so it takes quite a while”. New designs for the 21st century But this traditional style of chair is not merely a functional object; it has been inspiring artists, designers, and architects for centuries. This is a domestic item that still attracts the interest of contemporary creators, such as French designer Alban Le Henry, the latest to come up with a project based on its simplicity: “When I arrived in Ibiza, I saw its design and realised, as a designer, that it was a great representation of the island itself. [...] It’s versatile and timeless,“ says the creator, who exhibited a line of furniture based on the Payesa chair at the Ses12naus Foundation last year, but did so in open source so that users could modify and personalise it. ”The Payesa chair is perfect [...]. My aim was to offer a chair as a gift, so that anyone in Ibiza could make it or order it; the simplicity of its structure is a direct result of this initial idea,” he says. With his idea, this cultural treasure may be saved from extinction. Una silla tradicional se produce en pino u olivo. // enG A traditional chair is made from pine or olive wood.