Espartería Juan Sánchez
Traditional Madrid shop for esparto, rope, basketry and other natural-fibre goods, with a street shop on Calle Mediodía Grande, that also sells a ready-to-use treated jute rope set for kinbaku and shibari.
Espartería Juan Sánchez is a long-established craft shop in the La Latina area of central Madrid that sells traditional Spanish goods made from esparto grass, along with rope, basketry and other natural-fiber products.
A 2016 newspaper profile in Público reports that the shop was founded in 1927 by the grandfather of its current owner, also named Juan Sánchez, and later moved through several addresses in central Madrid, including Cuchilleros near the Plaza Mayor and Cava Baja, before settling in its present street. The city’s official tourism guide, esMadrid, also dates the shop to 1927 and describes it as one of the few traditional artisan shops still left in Madrid. According to Público, online sales helped the business survive when trade was declining, by opening it to customers across Spain.
The range covers esparto, wicker, chestnut and straw baskets and bags, walking sticks, wine skins and barrels, clay piggy banks, leather goods, kali sticks for martial arts and craft materials. Its rope section includes cotton, hemp, esparto, sisal and jute. For kinbaku and shibari it sells a set of treated jute rope, six lengths of seven meters and one of eight meters that the shop describes as ready to use. The shop also repairs chairs and fits esparto blinds, and it sells through its online store as well as on site.