Our story has a name: Juana Moreno

By Ángel Fuentes Moreno

The story of “Cerámicas Sevilla” comes from a woman deeply in love with the ancient ceramics of Sevilla. Her name is Juana Moreno.
She transmits her deep-rooted passion from the moment you engage in conversation with her. In talking with her, you realize that learning about. She has shared this devotion with her husband, Julio Fuentes, her son, Ángel, and her grandchildren, Ángel Jr. and Juana.

Born in Seville in 1937, Juana was introduced to antiques almost from birth. She inherited the hobby from her father, Deogracias Moreno Bartlomé, who had a passion for antiques and antique paintings, and surrounded himself with numerous influential people in the antique community. One of these individuals was Mr. José Gestoso y Pérez, an illustrious archaeologist and historian, who gave Juana (age 9) her first tile from his personal collection. Another friend, Mr. Manuel González Martí, founder and director of Dos Aguas Museum in Valencia, showed Juana how to build an extensive collection of ceramic tiles from demolished buildings, antique dealers, excavations, etc.

Her passion was ignited! She currently has more than four thousand pieces from the 15th to the 20th c., despite having suffered some significant robberies. 

During the 1950’s and 1960’s, many unique houses in Seville were demolished; almost no one valued the ceramics that lined their skirting boards, patios, staircases and living rooms.

Thanks to people like Juana, who realized the historical-artistic heritage value these ceramics represented for Seville, pieces were saved that would otherwise have ended up amongst the rubble and discarded. She and Julio salvaged pieces that interested her, and personally took apart, carefully cleaned, restored, and classified them.

Since I was a child, I remember my mother with a tile in her hands telling me about them and awaking a special, almost magical interest within me. 

This story is a tribute to all of them, with my love and appreciation; to my grandfather, Deogracias, and my parents, Juana and Julio. They both managed to teach me the value of that which others saw as just a useless piece of building material.

My goal, passion and dedication is to continue and transmit this tradition, passion and appreciation, not only to my children, Ángel Jr and Juana, but to many generations to come.