ateliermadera is my pseudonym, my name is Laura Otero Pedraza.
I grew up barefoot in the tropical zone of Bolivia, that's where my roots are. Always with a horse nearby, many dogs and the warmth of a vegetarian family.
My grandmothers were my great teachers, one a naturopathic doctor, with hands of flowers, and the other a humanist and voracious reader. Both of them, of acute intuition.
ateliermadera is my life project, it is what I bring to offer. It is my sensibility with nature and my permanent search for connection. And it is also the materialization of my cultural and artistic heritage.
THE WORKSHOP
In the early 90's my parents, Pancho Otero and Carmen Pedraza, bought a property in the La Guardia area. It did not have a single tree on it. That decade they planted more than 500 trees of 50 endemic species in order to generate an ecosystem on the 4 hectares of land. Today the workshop benefits from the shade, and also from the timber trees we use for our work. Here we spend our days carving the shapes of the pieces and eating their fruits.
We are accompanied by monkeys, sloths, porcupines, an endless number of birds, carachupas and of course snakes as well. The terrain has become an oasis for everyone.
But the studio is only part of it. The studio is in the house, a large house dating from 1920 with mud walls 60 cm wide, generous eaves and columns of historic wood. The magnificent farmhouse, a place stopped in time and sheltered by roots and animals.
NUESTRASELVA
Our mud house, which is about to turn 100 years old, tells a story. It is a story written by all those who have passed through here and those who will come. To know the details of the time in which the artist Herminio Pedraza and Marcelo Callau lived, visit us, or find us on Instagram under @nuestraselva. Our casona is available for lodging or events.
