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I remember when I was 16 years old and, by pure chance, I attended the Ligna exhibition in Hannover. That year we visited my paternal grandparents in Germany. They lived in Wolfsburg, in a small house with a large garden with four beautiful chairs that changed places day after day, because my retired grandparents, looking for a little sun, would sit outside to eat their food in the afternoon or to read a magazine or novel. .
That annual visit to my grandparents was special because, months before, I began to develop a taste for photography. So, hoping for an adventure in my daddy’s land, I packed up my mom’s Canonflex in hopes of finding something exciting to shoot in Wolfsburg.
And despite the fact that my grandparents’ city was known for its great automobile industry, the truth is that there were few adventures in its streets, since I never saw a car running at more than 50 km per hour. Without a doubt, the cars in Mexico City, which were surely very old, were going 10 times faster than in Wolfsburg. A huge disappointment for a photographer looking for action in the land of the car.
The only possibility of adventure was found in the interiors of the large Volkswagen factories that, unfortunately, were out of the reach of a child like me who, in addition to not knowing anything about engineering to pretend to be a worker, also spoke German. half mocho. The only thing left for me was to take photos of my grandparents and their garden.
I took many images of my grandparents and my parents sitting on the chairs, their hands and feet on the grass. However, I realized that, after a while, my camera stopped paying attention to my dear elders and concentrated on the chairs themselves, which had a perfect silhouette only possible, surely, thanks to the hand of a great master carpenter. . Or at least that was what I imagined.
However, he was in error. “How do you make a chair like this?” I asked my grandmother one afternoon, who was very curious and knew everything. “Surely a machine made them,” he told me. And in that moment I realized that, like cars, even such elementary objects as chairs were made by large sets of tools. Another big disappointment for a young artist photographer like me, who was looking for authentic experiences to photograph.
The next day, my grandparents’ neighbor, Mr. Walter, invited all of us to a small gathering at his house. Over coffee, Mr. Walter told me that he was a retired mechanical engineer who worked in the lumber industry. “Did you cut down trees?” I asked him. “No, no, in the company where I worked we made machines to manufacture furniture,” he replied. Surely he made my grandparents’ chairs with his machines, I thought. Despite the latter, I liked Mr. Walter. He was not a master carpenter, but it seemed to me that he was the closest thing to it.
The next day, Mr. Walter invited my parents and me to make a quick visit to Hannover. The plan was to travel early and return at night. He was going to see his friends at a machine fair and, in the meantime, my parents and I could take a tour of the city. We appreciated his kindness and the next day we left for Hannover. I packed the Canonflex looking for an adventure.
Mr. Walter dropped us off at Strandbad Maschsee and drove off in his car. I convinced my parents to separate and meet again at that place at 7 at night with Mr. Walter. They listened to me and, an hour and a half after walking aimlessly looking for the photo of the year, I appeared in a large esplanade full of people. Suddenly, I heard the voice of Mr. Walter speaking to me from a distance. I went up to him and he convinced me to go to his exhibition of wooden machines in exchange for going to eat something afterwards. I accepted and we entered a large building through a door that, in huge letters, said “Ligna”, the name of the fair.
Inside there was a giant space with large stands of companies unknown to me. There were machines and people dressed as engineers explaining the workings of these large metal blocks. I walked alone through the corridors of the fair for a few minutes and that was when I found space for a nice photo: it was Mr. Walter emotionally hugging some gentlemen, who were his old co-workers. The moment seemed very beautiful to me and I shot the camera. On our way out, we went to eat at a Bavarian restaurant and met my parents in the evening. A week later he was back in Mexico.
And it wasn’t until months after starting my university career, three years after my visit to Hannover, that I found out where I had once been. A teacher mentioned in class that the “Ligna” exhibition was the world’s largest fair in its field. “I went when I was a child with a neighbor of my grandparents,” I told him. “What a privilege! If you have the opportunity to go again, do it, ”he replied. And I listened to my teacher.
The following year and with a solid idea of what Ligna means to many wood-related industries and disciplines including mine, which is industrial design, I met Mr. Walter again to visit Ligna a second time. I brought him the photo I took years before and he thanked me by inviting me again to eat Bavarian food that he liked so much. There’s nothing like seeing your old friends! Mr. Walter told me. Since that year, I have tried to go to Ligna regularly and, although Mr. Walter is no longer with me, I always have him in my mind when I step on the huge exhibition floor of Hannover Messe.
A few days ago, Hannover Fairs México and Afamjal announced the pre-registration for MEM Industrial – Tecno Mueble Internacional, Ligna’s sister fair in Mexico, dedicated to presenting the latest in the wood and furniture transformation industry. I was pleased to know that this 2021 edition the event will be face-to-face. After a 2020 with so many difficult events for the world, a little responsible close interaction is necessary and with the appropriate measures, of course.
After so many years attending many events in various industries related to my work, I realize that, in addition to business opportunities, conferences and large machines, it is at events such as MEM Industrial, Ligna or the Hannover Messe where we can once a year meet our old friends, chat and take a picture for life.
I always wonder if that visit to Ligna with Mr. Walter defined in any way the course of my professional life. I still don’t know the answer.
