Marge & Jake are lovers of all things South American, and were excited to see some of our supplies in use first hand!
First on the agenda was a visit to the National Library of Brazil in Rio. It was here that they finally put a face to the voice of Tatiana, the Chief Conservator at the library. She was very kind & welcoming and took the couple on an extensive tour of their facilities in addition to around the city of Rio.
Jake & Tatiana in Rio
Unfortunately for us, Marge & Jake prefer to treasure these expeditions without any sort of documentation, and as a result… there are no pictures to vouch for these visits!
This small family run business (not too dissimilar fromTalas) took Marge & Jake through the whole process from preserved hide to finished parchment. The road to completion is a rather laborious one beginning with cleaning the skins, to the liming of the skins (to reduce the acidity from their preservation in various materials & thus to ensure their longevity), to the stretching & de-meating of the skins, and finally onto the drying and cutting stages.
Marge in the factory with J.J. (in the white shirt) & Pedro (in the green shirt).
Here Marge discusses the characteristics of the parchments with J.J. & Pedro. Dating back to her traditional training as a calligrapher & working on parchment, Marge is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to this medium.
The love for these materials is mutual and J.J. & Pedro seemed to have really enjoyed talking parchments with Marge during their visit.
After the visit, the four went for a lunch, the highlight of Jake’s afternoon! Not that he’s not interested in parchments himself… but he has a certain fondness, or rather obsession, for food exploration. That being said, J.J. & Pedro were thrilled to introduce Marge & Jake to the famous traditional dish of the region, which they all shared over lunch!
After their visits, Marge & Jake spent a few more days in Brazil exploring the country on their own before it was back to work in New York! One week never seems like long enough, does it?