Ayres: One Name and Two Generations
Words: André de Atayde
Photos: João Saramago
The scent of the stubbed-out cigarette mixed with cologne. The scent of wood and freshly-cut fabrics. The scent of life, and the world. Do scissors have a scent? It is interesting how the sense of smell brings back memories. Is it possible that a memory that is yet to happen has a fragrance? I’m delirious. I think it’s the chalk I used for marking.
There are two worlds in the room. And there are fifty two years separating one from the other. A past that is always present, and a present that will be the future. And what a future! There are two men, one old and one young. They are family. A grandson and a grandfather. They have a magical relationship that transcends family ties. Respect, admiration, trust and friendship. They are two ways of being, of existing, created in other times, once different, but here the same.
“Good morning!” says the grandfather as he enters the workshop with a spring in his step that is rarely seen anymore. Nothing fails here, everything checks out as if it were tailor-made. And it is. Isn’t there always a “what” of madness in the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren? There should be in all relationships. Here there is. And rightly so.
The most interesting thing about the people we meet is when we feel like family. It’s as if we won a grandfather and a cousin and went to hang out over some cozido à portuguesa on a Sunday in winter. Or is it any winter Sunday? I don’t know, because we can say what we like in this madness. And be what we like. If the Being follows what the madness is whispering in the ear.
This piece is not about tailored suits. It’s about two generations that have learned, and learn, from each other every day. About respect, admiration, and all the ties of blood and friendship that unite them and which are impossible to break. This piece is about love. Of art and of life. Or life being art, in a brand that will be fifty years old in 2021.
Both Ayres fit within these lines. Two generations united around the fabric on the table, on which they draw precise lines that are turned into sleeves, shoulders, pockets, trousers and perhaps waistcoats. And colourful linings, with many patterns, that make the difference.
Love is like an octopus with an infinite number of tentacles. And within love is the art of making things well, the pride in having a grandfather with a rich and full history, and a laugh that is unbelievably infectious. The future lies between these two generations, with the older influencing the younger. There has been little modernisation, because tailoring ought to be modern enough. He has grown, he has established a name and brand that goes beyond marked frontiers. And every day the grandfather is proud of what he does, what he creates, what he is.
Back to the future is looking at these two people and being proud of their connection. It’s the respect, the clear brotherhood and the madness. Healthy madness always helps us grow. Because this text holds the past, the present and the future. While knowing none of this would exist without love and madness. And a huge amount of talent that, when combined, goes several times around the world.