Antonio Figueredo, the Carpenter from Marbella Who Gave Talks to Biologists

My great-grandfather made wine barrels by eye. He made them and repaired them too. In Marbella, there was a significant production of Muscat grapes. He was the first in the family to work with wood; he was called upon by all the vineyards and travelled around the farmhouses in the area. That was until the phylloxera outbreak in Málaga in 1878. Grape production disappeared; it marked the decline of viticulture. This is recounted by Antonio Figueredo, a fourth-generation carpenter and environmental educator. He is the author of the book *Activismo en verde* and co-author of *Marbella naturalmente* and *Las aves de Marbella*.

Several of my great-grandfather’s sons, from then on, turned to chair-making. My family were Republicans; a cousin of my grandfather, Antonio Figueredo Guillén, was one of the founders of the Marbella Socialist Group and a councillor for Culture, who promoted the schooling of children. The Civil War, with the siege of Málaga and the arrival of Franco’s troops, reached Marbella on 17 January 1937. He had to leave with his brother; they set off for France. Two of my grandfather’s brothers were shot. They were workers, chairmakers; one of them is commemorated on a plaque in the cemetery. My grandfather was spared because he was the youngest; even so, they went to Melilla to get out of the way.

The chair-making workshop was in Plaza Altamirano, on the corner of Calle Mendoza. My grandfather, Antonio Figueredo Gil, along with my father and my uncles, used to go to gather reeds at the mouth of the River Guad

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