A Young Man’s Handmade Rugs Gain Notoriety in Yabucoa (2024)

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Yabucoa.- It was enough to see some tutorials on social media for Alejandro Santana-Vázquez to awaken his passion for the art of “tufting,” a technique used for creating rugs. It has now led him to be recognized across the Island for recreating celebrity pictures.

Attracted primarily by the idea of starting a business to get out of his night shift job at a factory, this young artisan, a native of Barrio Aguacate in Yabucoa, began his work by learning the basics in the art of weaving.

“About two years ago (2020), I started knitting out of interest and had this goal of making this coat from a singer that everybody else was making. So, I decided to learn how to knit. Last year during the summer, I saw a lot of people doing the rug thing on Tik Tok, but I didn’t pay much attention to it until my best friend at the time said ‘let’s do a rug business together’,” said Santana-Vazquez. “Everyone was doing that ‘tufting’ thing in the United States. We hadn’t seen anyone bring it over yet, so we decided to do it ourselves and take advantage of the opportunity. We knew that people would like it and they did,” explained the young artisan about the moment his work went viral on social media, opening doors to new opportunities.

Thus, this young man from Yabucoa set up his studio in a room at his mother’s house and called it Vlen Studio. From there he has managed to grow his business. And as early as December 2021, he quit his job to devote himself full time to his art.

How difficult is it to make a rug?

The artisan said that it is a skill that is not so easy to develop. It requires tracing drawings and controlling the tufting gun, a gun-shaped machine that facilitates the weaving. “Now that I have the machine, it’s even easier because it weaves the yarn onto the canvas itself. I draw the lines and control the machine. I didn’t realize how complicated it was until a few weeks ago, when my mom tried to make [a rug] out of curiosity. She said it looked easy but it didn’t come out right for her. You have to know how to control the machine, make curves and know how to fill in the spaces. It’s a little bit complicated,” admitted the artist, who uses acrylic thread, glue and special fabrics to create his works of art.

Santana-Vázquez works with all kinds of designs, from movie and cartoon characters to pictures of well-known singers and artists. Among the most requested, he said, are rugs in the shape of tennis shoes and video game remote controls. Meanwhile, the oddest and most complex order he has received so far was a rug with the cover of the “Living Life” album by artist Miky Woodz, a request that he assures has been an important challenge in his career.

“The oddest and most complicated rug I made was one I did for Micky Woodz, the singer. It was a gift for Valentine’s Day. His wife Fihama asked me for a rug (based) on his album artwork,” said the young man, who affirmed that the singer was happy with his gift.

As for the time it takes to make a customized rug, Santana-Vázquez said that it can take him between two days and two weeks, depending on the size and the details required. And the price, obviously, varies according to its complexity. “If it’s small and doesn’t have a lot of details, it can take me two days. If it has a lot of details, it requires more time and if it’s larger, well, even more. The rates start at $95, which is the 2ft x 2ft rugs. I almost always leave it at that unless the design is more complicated and I have to tell them that the cost will be higher. And the biggest prices can range between $200 and $450, but that’s obviously for when [the design] is complicated, and with the biggest size (rug) which is 4 x 4 feet,” Santana said.

Those who wish to follow the artist and see more of his artwork, can search for him through his social media as Vlen Studios.