About me
Engineer by degree.
Craftsman by trade.
I’m Álvaro Indias Salguero. I studied to spend my life in front of a computer and, well, I ended up with a workshop full of sawdust. Zero regrets.
01 · Where I come from
From a village to a neighbourhood
I grew up in Aldea de Retamar, a village near Badajoz. A village leaves things in you that never go away: people there know what you do, say hello in the street and ask how you’re getting on. When I set up on my own I was looking for exactly that, though I didn’t know it yet.
I found it in the old town of Badajoz. I bought a run-down house more than ten years ago, when nobody came round here even by mistake, and I fell in love with what it had inside. Today it’s my home and my workshop, all in one.
The neighbourhood has changed enormously since then. Badajoz has much more to it than people think, and those of us who insisted on setting up here must have had something to do with it.
02 · How I got here
No more bosses
Five years of Computer Engineering at the University of Extremadura. Then a few companies. And one fine day I got up and said: that’s it, no more bosses.
I started with graphic and web design, which was what I knew how to do. From there to interior design. And from there to making myself what I used to commission from others, which is where the fun was. Along the way I spent four years at the School of Arts and Crafts studying modelling, because some things a tutorial won’t teach you.
I’ve never been able to stick to just one trade. I used to think that was a problem. Not any more.
03 · The workshop
Sawdust and cameras, at the same time
My workshop is full of things that don’t go together at all: dusty wood next to the computer, old-school machines beside video cameras. Any material, any paint and any technology comes in here, and nobody asks questions.
Wood, metal, paint, home automation, CNC. If the project calls for it, you learn it and you make it. That’s what I call Arteotro: “otro arte”, another art, whatever art it takes.
04 · Outside the workshop
The same person,
on and off camera
On YouTube, Instagram and TikTok I show what I do as it is, without posing and laughing at myself quite often. People who know me know I’m the same in front of the camera and behind it. I just don’t know how to do it any other way.
And it’s not just about showing furniture. It’s about a kid seeing this and thinking that a trade isn’t a plan B. At Maker Faire Galicia 2024, in Santiago de Compostela, I ran a parametric construction workshop and built a dome with the support of Bosch Professional. And I sat on a panel to talk about exactly that: how social media can give trades back their place.
Where I’ve been
- 5 years Computer Engineering · University of Extremadura
- 2 years Graphic and audiovisual design · Self-taught
- 4 years Modelling · Adelardo Covarsí School of Arts and Crafts
- 10+ years Self-employed, with the workshop open
Everything I do, on video
The full projects are on the channel (in Spanish).