Our collaboration with Proxecto Bolina
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Our collaboration with Proxecto Bolina: Citizen Subscription Box 03
In the coastal village of A Guarda, nestled in Galicia on Spain’s Atlantic shore, tradition and innovation are finding common ground in Proxecto Bolina. This initiative emerged not in the hustle of a metropolis but in the quiet rhythm of a fishing town, one deeply shaped by the sea and generations of local craftsmanship.
Returning to her hometown, the founder of Proxecto Bolina, Amalia Puga, saw not only a place rich in heritage, but also one at risk of losing its cultural identity. With a background in industrial design, she set out to create something new from something traditional: a project that could give voice to fading crafts, by giving a new life to discarded maritime materials, and create connections between community and creation.
His pieces offer a tangible response by introducing functional furniture that bridges environmental science and everyday design - they're living examples of how we can blend our daily lives with nature.
At its heart, Proxecto Bolina aims to merge contemporary design with traditional artisanry. It reclaims used fishing ropes and nets, working with materials that would otherwise be discarded, and transforms them into meaningful objects. These range from lighting pieces and jewellery to furniture, installations and packaging, each piece carrying the mark of the sea and the hands that shaped it.
Through Proxecto Bolina, Amalia collaborates mostly with the redeiras; women net-makers who have long been vital to the fishing industry in A Guarda. Though their craft has historically been undervalued, it is their skilled hands that keep the fishing economy afloat. Yet, like many artisanal crafts, net-making is in danger of disappearing. Younger generations are no longer taking up the trade, and with that, an entire cultural practice stands at the brink of extinction.
Inspired by the strength and solidarity of these women, stories passed down through her grandmother, Amalia began to ask herself:
"Could design be a bridge to preserving such endangered heritage? Could innovation help reimagine and sustain this traditional craft? "
Six years ago, she began visiting the redeiras, spending weeks simply observing and listening. She watched their meticulous work, the tools and techniques, and gradually began to understand the process of their craft. This was how Proxecto Bolina was born: a project not aimed at replacing or streamlining tradition, but at celebrating its irregularities, its imperfections, its deeply human quality. Every knot, every thread, carries the weight of a story. These are not mass-produced objects; they are emotional artefacts.
The environmental motivation is equally strong. By sourcing fishing nets that return from the sea, no longer functional due to their size or shape, Proxecto Bolina aligns itself with a growing movement of conscious design. Sustainability, in this case, is not an abstract goal, but a return to principles that predate the word itself. As Amalia explains:
Older generations, like her grandparents, lived with an innate awareness of their environment. They repurposed out of necessity and created from what was available. Today, that mindset has become the main basis of Proxecto Bolina.
This philosophy also guided her collaboration with us. Our shared values: care for surroundings, transparency, resilience and authenticity, made the partnership feel organic. Together, we created a bag using warm brown nylon nets found in Galician ports, selected for their texture, tone, and resonance with traditional fishing materials. Although nylon revolutionised net-making in the 20th century, bringing efficiency and scalability, this project circles back to the intimate, tactile essence of the craft.
Designing the bag was about more than form or function; it was about honouring the journey of the material and the legacy of the women who worked with it. Every stitch embodies a conversation between past and present. It’s an invitation for people to reconnect with the process behind the product, to value the identity and origin of craft.
Proxecto Bolina is more than a design initiative. It’s a tribute to the sea, to forgotten crafts, and to the communities that have quietly sustained them. It turns discarded materials into vessels of memory and tradition. Through this work, design becomes a language for storytelling, for visibility, and transformation.
And perhaps most of all, Proxecto Bolina reminds us that innovating sometimes means taking a look back, reevaluating and repurposing not just a material but also the associated culture.
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