At XTANT 2025, in Palma de Mallorca, I reunited with my longtime friend Maite Felices. Over ten years ago, she organized a beautiful blog tour through Spain for one of her clients, which I was fortunate to join, and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. This time, she and Martin Palacios Ylätalo joined forces as editors of the project under the name Palacios Felices. Martin Palacios Ylätalo, presented some artistic works—escalade-sized on linen fabric—to honor the value of knowledge. With this first project called ‘Diderot d’Alembert Sant Antoni’ they highlight the manual engraving details and the visual beauty of designs originally created to teach or transmit ideas of how to make.
The works presented at XTANT are based on the recovery of illustrations from the most important work of the French Enlightenment: the colossal compilation of knowledge L’Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers [Encyclopedia, or Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts] by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond D’Alembert. The pieces concerning textile knowledge come from the volume entirely dedicated to this craft, denoting the importance of textiles in society.
Project number one “Diderot d’Alembert Sant Antoni”
projects for the dissemination of historical knowledge material in artistic media
These images, until now inaccessible for high-quality reproduction, have been recovered through a laborious process by Martin Palacios Ylätalo. Their original purpose was to change the collective way of thinking, and they were essential in democratizing technical knowledge and breaking the tradition of closed guilds.
The original copper plates, handcrafted to depict for the first time the work of artisans of the era, carried not only political and ideological value in dignifying physical labor and practical knowledge — they were created with immense awareness. They manually engraved visual feats to leave behind clear operational instructions and understanding.
The Encyclopédie documented trades, tools, and manufacturing processes and included entries on many textile crafts such as weavers (tisserands), dyers (teinturiers), carders (cardeurs), spinners (fileurs), and silk manufacturers (soyeux). It also described related trades like lace makers, embroiderers, and others. Many of these entries featured highly detailed depictions of spinning machines and looms, dyeing processes, and tailoring and finishing tools. Today, only a few rare editions, volumes, or loose pages remain as testimony to this great masterpiece, L’Encyclopédie. // txt Palacios Felices //
Images @vosgesparis // 2nd image Georg Kayser Studio
Het bericht Project ‘Diderot d’Alembert Sant Antoni’ by Palacios Felices verscheen eerst op vosgesparis.