A few kilometers from Buenos Aires, is the workshop of Manuel manufacturer of whips for the largest brands including Spirit of Polo.
A small room full of tools, colored thread and smelling leather where Manuel and his three employees work following rhythm of the old loom. You might think you are in the workshop of a Lyonnais silk worker.

One worker is making a leather whip. After gluing the plastic rod with a fine paper to improve the adhesion of leather, he braids leather strips by hand. The leather handle is then attached to one end of the whip. A Spirit of Polo button is inserted on the head of the handle of the whip and then surrounded by a new leather braid. Above, below, he has such a dexterity that it takes less than a minute to realize that.

The hand strap and the strap of leather, hand sewn, are added at the end. To polish leather, the whip is rubbed with a cow bone …!

In the back of the workshop another worker is in charge of the loom. The coils intersect at high speed in a deafening noise. Gradually the whip is covered with colorful nylon.

They produce an average of 350 whips per week in this workshop. Each whip can be customized by choosing colors, materials and ornament. All materials used, from leather to colored sewing thread, come from Argentina. And whips are completely hand made.

Manuel is a traditional craftsman as we don’t see in Europe anymore, passionate and happy to let us discover his passion and his workshop.

You can purchase the whips on Spirit of Polo

Here are the pictures of our visit :