Eugenio Monesma has been recording crafts in danger of disappearing from the rural world for more than four decades. “We’ve moved from the Middle Ages to an uncertain future.” including its spread Ha He has got millions of users on YouTube and other social networks to follow him.
Talking about traditional crafts, he describes the change from the 70s and 80s (when flint was threshed in some towns). A world powered by artificial intelligence.
It has over 2.5 million on YouTube, 6 million between Spanish and English Facebook accounts, and over a million on both Instagram and TikTok.
Their work has been compiled in books: Volume II of Editorial Lunwerg’s “100 Trades for Memory”, published in print on September 30, 2026, and has an electronic version.
The selection is based on an archive of approximately 1,000 works and includes everything from making soap with wooden flutes and shepherds’ vulture wings to washing clothes in a community laundry.
Recording some of these methods, he explains, creates difficulties in showing the processes. Lime making in Fuerteventura is an example. In the case of bastero (a trade responsible for making canes for cavalry), obtaining rye straw, wool lint, goat skins and cloth was an essential part of the recording.
D The diversity of their approach It covers the methods used to create different products, such as the ceramics of La Gomera or the pieces of Seclavín of Cáceres, decorated with small stones. “Each potter had his own technique”The researcher emphasizes. Two years of work, he added, contributed to the compilation of a second volume, leaving open the option of a third volume if Lunwarg requested it. “It won’t be a problem for me, because there is a job.”.
His documentary on YouTube
Monesma began hosting his documentaries online (dating back decades) on YouTube in late 2020. Monesma and her son have digitized an archive of over 3,000 stories to share on the platform.
Work finds an audience: More than 40 million views and more than 150,000 subscribers in just one month
On his channel, Eugenio Monesma Documentals, the reports in which the services were recorded offer an opportunity to see how the techniques were used. Tools explained by those who have mastered the technique. Videos vary in length: Monesma explains that showing the process of making filigree earrings requires a different amount of time than documenting a saddle or chariot. According to him, the method was to live with the artisans so that he could photograph them as they worked.
Your website Offers links to public YouTube views and establishes a classification by location; Therefore, anyone who wants to watch videos about their hometown can search for them.
Monesmapa is a personal tribute to the work of Monesma created by Ferdev. The map identifies cities and buildings in different areas and separates approximate areas, indicating points that do not allow us to specify where the filming took place. Those looking for works about their region can start by identifying the region and accessing the videos at their original source through the links provided on the website. Alternatively, the audiovisual archive that Monesma created during his visit to the village can be searched by following the source locations of the documentary.
Picture | With TikTok editing by Eugenio Monesma
