If Miguel Cabrera looks back, he remembers the times when Arrecife lived off the fishing industry. He searches his memory and brings to the present the moment when, as a child, he would take the bus from Titerroy and pass through the Garavilla area: "I have very present the strong smell of fish that there was, which although it was quite bad, showed what the city was. Arrecife was work, it was fishing."
In the midst of all this connection between port and city arose the jolatero, a small boat made from an empty fuel drum and created, for the first time, by someone whom the elders today remember as "The Mute."
"He was the precursor, and from there, the fishermen used it as auxiliary transport to get closer to another larger boat or to go and collect bait," says Cabrera, who indicates that "some say that the jolatero was born in El Reducto and others in the Charco de San Ginés, it is not entirely clear since there is nothing written, everything has reached us through oral transmission."
Currently, Miguel Cabrera is no longer a child, but has become a graphic designer and illustrator who is part of the second generation that runs Confecciones Tito, a family business dedicated to textiles that emerged in the capital of Lanzarote in 1979.
In addition to this, he dedicates himself to chatting with old people about the times when "Arrecife did not turn its back on the sea", but lived off it: "One of the last people I spoke to showed me a scar on his calf, which he made precisely shaping a jolatero when he was 9 years old," says the professional.
From the sea to clothing
And it is all those "tin emotions", his own and others', that have shaped the Jolatero brand, a clothing line that combines graphic arts and textiles.
The firm, framed within Confecciones Tito, emerged at the end of 2018 with the aim of "giving a little name to the history of the jolatero, promoting its peculiarities and the cultural history around the past of Arrecife", explains Cabrera.
That is why the logo is composed of the figure of a child riding on one of these small boats, with the intention that young people recover the tradition of their city. "We want to promote the idea that things, in order to happen, have to occur, and the jolatero is a good example of this: it goes from being a drum to a boat, with effort, care and manual work," relates the designer.
Pride for locals, distinction for visitors
This care that the merchant defends is implicit in the entire creation process of the garments, from the selection of details when importing them -using rustic fabrics such as cotton or linen-, through the creation of their design and screen printing -done in Lanzarote- to their delivery in a tin-shaped gift box, representing a jolatero. And it translates into the good reception by the population: "It caught on very well from the beginning because nobody expected it, it arose a bit by magic".
Its main core of clients is focused on older people "who take it with pride because it takes them back to their childhood" and tourists "who see it as a curious distinctive of Lanzarote."
Likewise, the brand has managed to stay afloat -also overcoming the pandemic period- thanks to a simple recipe, which mixes the fact that "everyone wears a t-shirt" with "affordable prices adapted to everyone, which vary depending on the materials that have been used" and seasons it with the protection of Confecciones Tito.
"By working with more brands in the store, a fusion is created in which the person who comes for Jolatero gets to know other brands and the person who comes for others discovers Jolatero. This is how we have managed to spread it," illustrates the creator.
Local commerce has a future
To spread it... And to position it as "something unique in the world", an essential characteristic, according to Cabrera, for the promotion of cities, because "what gives character to places is the environment and its differences, its tradition and the transmission of it".
It is this belief that helps the merchant to look to the future of local commerce with optimism: "Seeing what has happened in Arrecife, where there are only two or three "lifelong" businesses left, I am clear that in the end what keeps us going are the small things", and he defends that "local commerce is more authentic, not having the desire to grow excessively but at the pace it should and, above all, enjoying the journey".
This fact, in his opinion, gives a "essence and character" to small stores that large stores do not have, and gives them competitive advantages. "We have become much more aware in recent years of the importance of responsible consumption and zero kilometer, so I believe that with that Arrecife will continue to be Arrecife. Consumption habits will change, but people will always prefer something more differentiated and truthful, compared to the artificiality of shopping centers. We cannot and should not compare ourselves," says the artist.
For tomorrow: hope, new garments and maintaining values
With an eye on the future, Cabrera sees Jolatero located in a place entirely dedicated to the firm, which responds to an illusion they have had since its creation. With his feet on the ground, the professional informs that they are going to start working on the summer 2023 collection and on the creation of shorts and pants.
But, even if it becomes independent from Colecciones Tito and has enough clothes to "fill a small store", the philosophy will always be the same: to be a brand "from home and for home", because its members are happy with that.
And, above all, to share that happiness, tradition and essence of what Arrecife was -and still is-, because without these values and without the small businesses that promote them "the soul of the cities does not exist", concludes Cabrera.
