BARCELOVERS
The magazine inspired by a captivating city
BAR
CELO
VER
S
The magazine inspir
ed b
y a c
aptivating cit
y
Mobile Laboratory The personal and collective impact of mobile devices
080 Barcelona Fashion From traditional ateliers to the catwalk
Urban Wildlife Open-air artworks inspired by animals
Line UP
All the main events and activities
Issue 4 |
THINKING
BIG MAKES
US GROW
”
It doesn’t matter if it’s a start-up or a multinational, it doesn’t matter if
they are small investments or large international ventures. In Barcelona,
what matters are big ideas, people, opportunities... Everything has a
place in one of the main European cities for international investment
projects. That is why Barcelona makes you grow, makes you dream while
keeping your feet on the ground, even further than the horizon.
BARCELONA, THE EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF INNOVATION.
Barcelona is an open and cosmopolitan Mediterranean city; a city of culture, knowledge, creativity, innovation and well-being that is inspirational for many people the world over and which, on an international level, has become one of the biggest destinations for tourists.
In this magazine you will be able to see that Barcelona has become a benchmark for subjects as varied as art, cuisine, architecture, healthcare and research. Barcelona never stops innovating and seeking out excellence.
Convinced that during your stay you will find what you were looking for as well as being surprised by the things you didn’t know, we bid you welcome and trust that you will experience some inspirational and unforgettable moments in our city.
Xavier Trias Mayor of Barcelona
Barcelovers
PUBLISHED BY Barcelona City Council
PUBLISHING BOARD Jaume Ciurana, Jordi Martí i Galbis, Marc Puig, Miquel Guiot, Jordi Joly, Vicent Guallart, Àngel Miret, Marta Clari, Albert Ortas, Josep Lluís Alay, José Pérez Freijo, Pilar Roca EDITORIAL BOARD Marc Puig, Rosa Romà, Elisabet Garcia, Joan León, Enric Rimbau, Marta Passola
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Joan León
COPYWRITING Xavier Arnaiz, Borja Barbesà, Iñaki Barco, Txell Bonet, Tomàs Fuentes, Helena Martínez Guimet, Albert Murillo, Irene Pujadas, Jonàs Sensós, Josep Sucarrats, Oliver Villanueva
PUBLISHER Edicions Clariana SL
DESIGN AND LAYOUT Lamosca
FRONT COVER Roger Llonch
PHOTOGRAPHY Txema Salvans (director), Pere Albiac, Carles Allende, Carmen Secanella, Joan Guillamat, Enrique Marco, Oriol Rigat
ILLUSTRATIONS Diego Marmolejo, Lamosca, Miquel Tura Rigamonti MAIN FONTS Bulo and Trola by Jordi Embodas
TRANSLATION AND PROOFREADING Néstor Bogajo, Stuart McLauchlan, Marta Roigé, Kelly Shimmin ADVERTISING Primer Segona
PRE-PRESS Xavier Parejo
PRINTER Direcció d’Imatge i Serveis Editorials
PAPER 100% recycled
IN COLLABORATION WITH THE ADVERTISING BUSINESS ASSOCIATION, THE CATALAN ASSOCIATION OF ADVERTISING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS AGENTS AND THE BARCELONA HOTEL ASSOCIATION
LEGAL DEPOSIT B. 19.129 - 2013 ISSN 2339-8396
www.meet.barcelona.cat/barceloversmag
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IS YOURS
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| 3 2 |
Wake Up
Useful information, advice and interesting facts04
08
10
12
14
18
WHAT’S UP
The inauguration of the Design Museum frontlines a series of fresh news items on the city
MOBILE LABORATORY
Coinciding with the Mobile World Congress, we take a look at how mobile telephones have transformed our lives
THE PERSONAL CIRCLE
Interests, leisure, health… smartphones have changed the way we relate to ourselves
THE SOCIAL CIRCLE
Mobile apps offer a host of options when it comes to establishing our close relations-hips
THE COMMUNITY CIRCLE
The use of NFC technology and apps for managing administrative formalities and making people’s lives easier
4 YEARS FROM NOW
Forecasting the future. That’s the aim of this international mobile entrepreneurs’ meeting, held as part of the MWC
TELEFÓNICA R&D
The company’s research centre in Barcelona is developing big data, Internet of Things and open innovation projects
BARCELOVERS
20
22
26
30
34
36
40
42
46
48
53
61 75
PROFILES
Four barcelovers whose talent and hard work have made them stand out in their respective disciplines
DEFYING THE DEEP
Ictineu III is a private scientific submarine that will help increase our knowledge of the seabed
FROM THE ATELIER TO THE CATWALK
A new generation of independent designers is flourishing under the umbrella of 080 Barcelona Fashion
THE ESSENTIAL NETWORK
Vincles BCN uses new technology to alleviate the isolation of the elderly with funding from the Bloomberg Foundation
THE LURE OF THE PISTES
There are numerous different skiing options just a short drive from Barcelona
THE LAST CULINARY SECRET
In a city that loves avant-garde food, we recommend some restaurants where you can experience Catalan haute cuisine
THE BRIGHTEST NIGHT
The Llum BCN festival combines design, technology and poetic creativity
THE HOME OF BUSINESS
The new Enterprise Service Office offers information, advice and services to companies
WOOD, SLATS, COLOUR… BARCELONA
Taking a traditional object, improving it and adding new functionalities is what Persiana Barcelona has managed to achieve
Report
Urban wildlife: open-air artworks inspired by animals
The new Design Museum was inaugurated last December in the new Design Hub building in the Plaça de les Glories. The new centre gathers together in an exhibition space of 7,000 square
metres all the collections from the following old museums: Museum of Decorative Art, Ceramic Museum, Textile and
Clothing Museum and the Graphic Arts Museum.
The Design Museum
opens to the public
6 |
Since last November trains have already been running on Line 9 which will connect the Zona Universitària station with Barcelona-El Prat Airport. For now this represents a trial period that will continue through to February 2016. This section, 20 kilometres long and with 15 stations, is predicted to carry 23 million passengers a year. The length of the sector is comparable to metro line L1, currently the longest in the network.
FC Barcelona and the
French International
Rugby League (LNR) have
reached an agreement for
the 2016 Championship
Final to be played at
Camp Nou, a historical
achievement in that it
represents the first time
Barça’s stadium will host
a sport other than football
in an official competition.
Urbiotica, Bismart and Sensing & Control have been selected among the fifteen most innovative companies in the world in the field of smart cities by the Economic Development Agency of New York. The three companies took part last October in the ‘World to NYC: Global Industry Challenge’ to present their projects and make contact with private investors, local customers and prospects with the goal of exploiting new business opportunities in the United States.
From 23 to 26 September 2017, Fira de Barcelona will host the World Routes Congress, the world’s most important aeronautical event, attended by the top executives who decide on the routes airlines will fly. According to the organizers, events company UBM, the host cities of the congress see an increase in the volume of their international connections.
ADOBE TO ESTABLISH THE WORLD’S FIRST DIGITAL MARKETING LABORATORY FOR CITIES
The City Council of Barcelona and the multinational Adobe Systems have signed
an initial agreement to push forward with the so-called City Branding Lab
that will facilitate innovative and experimental solutions to improve
the city’s competitiveness. The City Branding Lab will be located
at the Barcelona Growth Centre and will become operative
during the course of 2015.
The metro line L-9 will
connect the airport to the
centre of Barcelona from
the beginning of next year
Three Barcelona firms
among the most innovative
in the world in the field
of smart cities
Fira de Barcelona to host the world’s
leading aeronautical congress in 2017
INFRASTRUCTURES
SPORT
INNOVATION
BUSINESS
BUSINESS
Barcelona is the world’s mobile capital and this status is endorsed by the
organization of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in early March. The MWC,
which has been held in Barcelona since 2011, is the meeting point for all
the leaders of the mobile revolution, from major multinationals through to
entrepreneurs and innovators.
In the last four years, mobile devices have changed dramatically and the world has
changed as a result. Telephones have nothing in common now with the appliance
invented by Alexander Graham Bell, which was capable of encoding the human
voice in an electric pulse, transmitting it over a distance and then decoding it. In
recent times, mobile phones have become genuine miniature computers that are
with us every second of the day and have transformed every area of our lives.
Let’s take a look at some of the different ways in which telephones have changed
our lives with some of the people in Barcelona who have been responsible for
making it possible
Mobile Laboratory
Text Albert Murillo and Oliver Villanueva
Photos Txema Salvans
The personal circle
The social circle
The community circle
4 years from now
| 11 10 |
king.com
locosonic
socialdiabetes
king.com
locosonic
socialdiabetes
We use alarms to remind us. We take photos in a
nanosecond. When we exercise, we measure our vital signs.
Wherever we may be, it’s the only thing (apart from keys
and wallet) that we never, ever forget to take with us. There
is no doubt that smartphones have changed the way we
relate to each other and even ourselves
The personal circle
0
Helping people with diabetes types
Helps to adjust the
dose of insulin based
on a carbohydrate
count and the blood’s
sugar level
1
&
2
Can monitor exercise and
behavioural patterns
160
40 80 120
THE KINGS OF MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT
Casual video gaming is synonymous with King.com. Today, it’s practically impossible to go on the metro or bus and not see someone playing one of the mega-colourful Candy Crush or Papa Pear Saga games. With their simple and highly addictive gaming mechanism, King’s videogames have become the perfect companion for dead periods.
The company, of Irish origin, has had an office in Barcelona since 2012 and its success is based on various factors: gameplay mechanics based on little puzzles which exploit touch screens to the full, a rigorous testing process and constant improvements based on analysing the data received from the players themselves.
The King.com business model is a fantastic example of what is known as freemium. The game can be downloaded free of charge and the levels must be played in strict order to progress, although within the app there is a shop where you can buy bonuses to make the game easier.
THE CITY SOUND EXPERIENCE
Quite often, when strolling along the streets, we’ve got our earphones in. What would happen if the music we’re listening to, instead of coming from a predetermined playlist on our device (or our preferred streaming service) had been designed especially for the street on which we we’re walking, and changed when you crossed to another street? The result would be a kind of urban symphony, a soundtrack that would enhance the walker’s experience. This is the idea of Locosonic.
Albert Puig, one of the people responsible for the project, sees Locosonic as “a receptacle of sound experiences.” All you have to do is enable the app, put your mobile in your pocket and enjoy a stroll to the sounds of the creations of different musicians and sound artists. Having been presented at the last Sonar Advanced Music and New Media Art Festival, Locosonic will be available for iOS devices and the idea is to launch a version for Android soon.
king.com
locosonic
socialdiabetes
SOCIAL DIABETES: HELP WITH THE DAILY ROUTINE
Like many other people, one day Víctor Bautista learned he had diabetes. This chronic disease, which affects 400 million people around the world, forces sufferers to constantly monitor their blood glucose levels and adjust their food intake appropriately. An expert computer programmer, Víctor realised that this would be the perfect job for his smartphone, and that was the start of SocialDiabetes.
cookbooth
wallapop
notegraphy
cookbooth
wallapop
notegraphy
cookbooth
wallapop
notegraphy
We’re constantly connected. We use phones to send
messages more than making calls. We use social networks
to resume contact with old friends and establish new
relationships according to our interests. Day by day, our
social milieu is transformed by the apps we use
THE CULINARY EXCHANGE
Sharing photos of your food is already a classic on social networks. The hashtag #cook on Instagram, for example, features numerous images of mouth-watering dishes that have just been cooked, made with different ingredients and in different parts of the world, but all with a common denominator: they’re all on the point of being served.
The next step for foodies was to create a social network for sharing recipes. This is what CookBooth is all about: a meeting point for people of different origins who share a common passion: cooking. The app lets you create photo-recipes and provide a step-by-step explanation with the aim that anyone can attempt to make them. You can also follow
one of the well-known chefs who use the app such as Damian Allsop from Walter Ganache, who explains “El Bulli and
PERSON-TO-PERSON TRANSACTIONS
Internet and second-hand trade are virtually synonymous since eBay emerged on the scene (in 1995, just 20 years ago), which managed to popularize this market by putting sellers and buyers all over the world in contact with each other. Far from being a mere clone of this behemoth, the young Barcelona start-up Wallapop takes advantage of mobile localization to promote person-to-person transactions.
Wallapop defines itself as a virtual flea market. When you’re looking for a product, the app compares locations and shows you the results in order of proximity. From this point on, the two users make contact and negotiate the different aspects of the handover. According to the app’s creators, this is the best way of generating confidence in the app. Wallapop was created in 2013 and now it’s available in Spain, the UK, France and Portugal. It manages transactions to the tune of 10 million euros per month and the value of its inventory of listed objects exceeds 250 million euros. At the moment, use of the app is free for both buyers and sellers.
PERSONALIZED FONTS IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT
Every time we write a text, we leave a part of our personality on the page. If we’ve got something special to announce, why do it in a standard font? Notegraphy is an app that aims to rethink the way we write on the internet through design.
For Rafa Soto, the creative director at the agency Herrainz & Co and the brains behind the project, the idea was to “create an environment with a certain intimacy between the text and the person.” Notegraphy lets you write texts with a specific font treatment and colour combination and thus avoid the flat feeling of the standard fonts used on social networks. The app has proved popular in the community of typography amateurs and professionals and well-known figures such as designer Jessica Hische have been generous enough to lend their creations for everyone to use.
The social circle
Available in:
UK
France
Spain
Portugal
You can also ‘follow’
| 15 14 |
Urban life is also being transformed on a daily basis. From
the NFC technology used at bus stops to apps for managing
municipal formalities, smartphones are becoming
indispensable tools for making the very most of all the city’s
possibilities
The community circle
BARCELONA IN YOUR POCKET
Barcelona in your pocket is Barcelona City Council’s project for mobile telephone initiatives and solutions. It represents its commitment to using mobile devices to improve the city’s services and promote the industrial and production sectors. The project is based on three cornerstones: Apps4Bcn, Barcelona Contactless and MobileID.
It works based on a community
which is responsible for selecting
apps through a system of votes
and comments
BCN Contactless facilitates
the everyday relations of the
city’s residents and visitors
Apps4BcnLab aims to
generate synergies by
organizing conferences,
presenting success
stories and hosting
meetups
8.9
7.6
6.8
6.1
apps4bcn
barcelona contactless
mobileID
The most frequently used mobile apps are those that provide solutions for little, everyday problems. The Apps4Bcn portal features an array of apps that focus on improving the city’s services and facilities; in other words, the best apps for experiencing and enjoying Barcelona.
Apps4Bcn works as part of a community. This community, made up of experts and people interested in different topics (such as sports or culture), industrial workers and fans of mobile devices are responsible for selecting, choosing and classifying the selection featured on the portal by means of a system of votes and comments.
But Apps4Bcn is more than just a portal of
recommendations. The goal is to promote the industrial structure and create partnerships to develop products. Thus the Apps4Bcn Lab is working to develop events and competitions for app prototypes. Meanwhile, the Apps4BcnLive! App aims to coalesce this online community to generate synergies by organizing conferences, presenting success stories and hosting professional meetups.
apps4bcn
barcelona contactless
mobileID
Contactless technology will undoubtedly be one of the big frontiers for mobile telephony in the coming years. Already, using QR codes or NFC labels, we can initiate simple actions by putting a terminal close to another device. The BCN Contactless initiative helps to facilitate the everyday relations of the city’s residents and visitors alike.
By means of a network of access points distributed across the whole city, users can access a mobile network that provides information that is specific to that particular time and place: what there is do here, where the nearest emergency pharmacy is… a window from virtual Barcelona to physical Barcelona, a gateway to the most up-to-date and specific information.
apps4bcn barcelona contactless
mobileID
Personal authentication mechanisms are one of the big stumbling blocks when it comes to digitalizing administra-tive systems. For much of the population, digital ID systems are not particularly intuitive and cause more headaches than solutions. This is why the City Council has set up mobileID.
apparkb
barcelona wi-fi
urban transport
apparkb
barcelona wi-fi
apparkb
barcelona wi-fi
urban transport
urban transport
Parking in Barcelona is now slightly easier with Apparkb, an app that lets you manage payment in above-ground parking zones (blue and green zones) from your mobile. Apparkb is an app designed to streamline formalities conveniently without having to pay for your parking time in advance.
Once it’s activated, the app positions the vehicle using the mobile’s GPS system. From this point, the meter starts running. If you’re getting near the time limit (up to two hours, the same as with a parking meter), a warning is sent to your phone. Once the parking session has finished, payment is made.
Barcelona has a public wi-fi network which is available across the whole city. It is a service that provides free access to the internet provided you are close to one of the hotspots which are situated in different municipal facilities and public spaces. The 704 hotspots that currently make up Barcelona Wi-Fi is the biggest free public citizens’ network in the country and one of the largest in Europe.
Moreover, in 2015 and 2016 plans are afoot to enlarge the network. There are now Wi-Fi hotspots on the fleet of urban buses and also at the main metro stations. In a second phase, Barcelona Wi-Fi will expand to municipal markets and the port, as well as becoming consolidated in the city’s public spaces as a major access point to the information society.
The steady drip of technological initiatives for use on public transport is never-ending. Most of them are invisible to the general public, but they are very necessary for the management of the network of metros, trams and buses moving around Barcelona. Others are aimed directly at public transport users.
The municipal public transport company (TMB), which is responsible for all the different modes of public transport in the city, offers its users a whole raft of apps to improve their travelling experience: information on routes, service alerts, network maps and route planners are just some of the most noteworthy services for regular commuters. When it comes to tourism, Barcelona Bus Turístic Virtual is an enhanced reality app that makes the very most of a visit to the city. At some bus stops there are also information panels with real-time forecasts of bus arrivals, and NFC labels and QR codes are starting to be distributed to offer complementary information.
TMB offers its users a whole raft
of apps to improve their travelling
experience
2,1 km
3,4 km
5,6 km
| 19 18 |
AN EVENT OF
The mobile communications revolution is driving the world's major technology breakthroughs. From wearable devices to connected cars and homes, mobile technology is at the heart of worldwide innovation. As an industry, we are connecting billions of men and women to the transformative power of the Internet and mobilising every device that we use in our daily lives. The 2015 GSMA Mobile World Congress will convene industry leaders, visionaries and innovators to explore the trends that will shape mobile in the years ahead. We’ll see you in Barcelona at The Edge of Innovation.
WWW.MOBILEWORLDCONGRESS.COM
Four years is the critical timescale. It’s the time it takes for a project to consolidate itself. It’s the time you need to meet up again with someone and realise that you’re completely different people. It’s the time for discovering how much technology has changed. “It’s a good exercise to look back at how things were four years ago and see how back then it was unimaginable that WhatsApp would become an essential means of communication,” says Aleix Valls.
Aleix Valls is the director of 4 Years From Now (4YFN), an international mobile entrepreneurs’ meeting which will be held for the second time between 2 and 5 March 2015 within the framework of the Mobile World Congress. 4YFN intends to look ahead towards a future which, according to Valls, “will be led by entrepreneurs.” This business and networking platform which last year doubled its space to 8,000 m2 is aimed at start-ups, investors and also end buyers. Over this period, “the entire mobile industry is here in Barcelona and that helps start-ups to sell their products.”
4 years from now:
discover the future
is the time it
takes for a project
to become
consolidated
Disrupted by mobile
4YFN
Digital
Media of thingsInternet
4
years
An international mobile entrepreneurs’
meeting within the Mobile World Congress
When Telefónica, at that time the company with the state monopoly on telephone communications, decided to open a department dedicated to R+D, more than 25 years ago, everything was very different. Desktop computers were just making their way into homes, Microsoft was readying version 3.0 of Windows and for anyone outside the realm of academia and technology the internet was just science fiction. Back then, innovation was a material science: people experimented in mechanical laboratories where they tested out new models of electronic circuits.
All that has now changed. Today, innovation means software and data. Society needs new tools that facilitate more and better communication, sharing experiences and setting up social networks… with technology as the key. The company’s R+D centre in Barcelona (with more than 200 people spearheading the company’s global innovation) is responsible for developing big data, the Internet of Things and open innovation projects.
But nowadays technology companies operate in a volatile environment. New advances threaten to make things that were essential yesterday obsolete, and every innovation adds layers of complexity. Some say that a traditional business would take six months to develop an idea which a start-up, with a much more agile structure, could develop in six weeks. If it doesn’t play its cards right, a major company could very easily become a giant with clay feet.
When a start-up teaches
a giant: Telefónica R&D,
a ‘lean’ elephant
In this respect, Telefónica R+D stands out as an exemplary company. It estimates that it has managed to increase the number of innovation projects by 45% while reducing the average investment per project by 48%. It has done this by applying to a major corporation a concept that many technological entrepreneurs understand very well: the lean concept.
The fundamental idea of lean management is to reduce the total risk while increasing the granularity of projects undertaken and minimizing the cost of failure. In other words, starting small and aiming high: this means that failure will be cheap and, with luck, you will have learnt something that will help you do it better next time round. Companies that operate using lean parameters often start out with an intensive testing process on the aspects that represent the highest risk. The idea is to achieve a validated knowledge which will allow, from a very early phase of the project, certain ideas to be discarded in order to focus on others.
The challenges involved in applying lean methodologies to a company of the size of Telefónica and the way the company deals with them were explained in a paper published in May 2014 entitled, very significantly, Lean Elephants. Addressing the Innovation Challenge in Big Companies. The results speak for themselves: with 87 patents registered in 2012, Telefónica has positioned itself as the second source of innovation in Spain, only surpassed by CSIC. From its eye-catching headquarters on Avinguda Diagonal, right next to the Forum area, multidisciplinary teams of engineers, designers and business experts cooperate with external partners from various backgrounds – from chef Ferran Adrià to young designers who create interactive systems with Arduino. All of them are involved in researching the new possibilities of the internet.
Society needs new
tools that help us to
communicate more
and better, share
experiences, form social
networks...
learn build measure
ideas data
product
| 23 22 |
XAVIER BALIUS
Biomechanic
“Before the Olympic Games start (Barcelona ’92) you need to give us a hand,” he was told by the managers of the Catalan government’s General Sports Secretariat. Back in the early Nineties, Balius was working in the USA, where he studied Biomechanics, but decided to return home to take on the position of manager of the Science, Medicine and Technology Unit of the High Performance Sports Centre.
Around 500 sportspeople benefit from facilities designed to achieve excellence, and yet “the centre is one of the few in the world that also has a residence, a high school and a medical service.” To guarantee the athletes’ integral training, the centre monitors and checks their health, and is a “pioneer in implementing an interdisciplinary model. We assign a coordinator to each trainer to manage the activities of the other professionals and really ensure a synergy of energies.” They even have agreements with local hotels because this is the centre of choice for many international federations who come here to train, also attracted by their technology, “such as our system of video cameras for monitoring synchronized swimming.”
ROSA PARDINA
Entrepreneur
The paradigm of a woman who has managed to start all over again from scratch, and without letting age get in the way. Having tasted success at the age of just 30 with the development of generic drugs, she then lost her company. Years later, in 2009, she founded OneDose Pharma, the world’s first pharmaceutical industry laboratory to commercialize medicines in single doses. This CEO is clear on the need to focus on innovation, “along with knowledge of the market, its shortfalls and the viability of your product. That’s why I studied pharmaceutical law.”
She has managed to create a product that is sustainable both in economic and environmental terms, “which envisages self-medication and represents a saving of 24% by avoiding unnecessary doses.” A system which, above and beyond business interests, is committed to benefitting people and the health system. “The governments of Chile and Colombia are interested as it reduces many costs which are later passed on to their citizens.” These single doses cost the same, are easy to open, colour-coded, written in Braille and packaged in Barcelona by the Dau Foundation, which specializes in job placement. Pardina also organises dinners at her home for foreign visitors (www. barcelonaeatinghome.com).
PROFILES
LUIS CODERA PUZO
Composer and musician
Luis Codera is regarded as one of the “top up-and-coming young composers” by the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Foundation, which awarded him a grant of 35,000 euros earlier this year. “I’m using it to buy time so I can carry on doing research, developing my musical ideas and recording an album.” Having previously received scholarships from the National Council of Culture and Arts of Catalonia, the Ministry of Culture and Education of Catalonia, the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, the Hoepfner Foundation, the Christoph-und-Stephan-Kaske-Stiftung Foundation and the French Ministry of Culture, Codera Puzo has lived in Berlin, Karlsruhe and Basel. He has now returned to Barcelona, “where things are changing in the world of contemporary music, with bolder programming.” His most serious undertaking is directing the group Crossing Lines which plays his compositions in Catalonia and internationally. “The creative standard here is excellent, musicians are really well trained, which is partly as a result of the open minds of the Esmuc. Everything is in place for audiences to be able to enjoy this music. Institutions need to understand this moment and not fall short of the level of involvement required.”
CECILIA THAM
Entrepreneur
Originally from Macau, the founder of MOB (Makers of Barcelona) is an architect and designer who graduated from Harvard, as well as an entrepreneur. Her personal urge to share her interests and ideas with other professionals led her to establish this space of 1,000 m² for co-working. Her charismatic nature has managed to galvanize a group of talents from different disciplines, “a really enriching and inspiring community which gives rise to some unprecedented creations.” More than 200 partners, including architects, designers and computer technicians, participate in the “philosophy of never setting any boundaries, taking advantage of information society tools and putting them into action in the production of personalized creations.” This is why there is also a Fab Café open to the general public with a 3D printer, an engraver and a laser cutter, a bitcoin
DEFYING THE DEEP
Text Irene Pujadas Illustrations Diego Marmolejo
Even though it represents more than 70% of the Earth’s total surface area, the
sea bed continues to be an impenetrable mystery for humankind even now. It is
impenetrable for purely technical reasons: the technology we possess has only
allowed us to explore between 2% and 5% of all the oceans and seas. The creation
of ‘
Ictineu III
’, a private scientific submarine with the world’s greatest submersion
capacity, could help to enrich scientific knowledge about this unfathomable,
unknown quantity
“When we decided to build a submarine we also decided to build the best one ever,” asserts Pere Forès, the project’s mastermind along with Carme Parareda and Miquel Àngel Rodríguez. And in no way does the Ictineu III skimp on quality. The submersible combines an attractive design with a number of technical features that have earned it the endorsement of one of the world’s leading certification bodies, the prestigious DNV GL. The lithium ion batteries, which accounted for more than 20% of the project’s total budget, were bought by multinationals and the project has even attracted the attention of the US Navy. They have also managed to significantly reduce the submarine’s weight: normally a sub designed for this depth would weigh between 8.5 and 14 tonnes, but the lightweight Ictineu III weighs in at only 5.5 tonnes.
Forès assures us that “at congresses they tell us it’s the most beautiful submarine in the world.” This is in no way flippant: the comfort and user-friendliness of the Ictineu make the crew members more relaxed and so they consume less oxygen. Moreover, its hydrodynamic shape makes it faster and more able to avoid currents and nets. The design, created by Pere Forès, is innovative when compared to the classic concept of a submarine’s structure. Here, every component is attached to the fairing which has saved having to use a series of titanium layers that would have greatly increased the weight. For all these reasons Karl Stanley, a renowned submarine constructor with a global reputation, has said that the
Ictineu III represents a watershed in the world of submarine design. In the mid-19th century, Narcís Monturiol invented the first crewed,
self-powered submarines: Ictineu I (1859) and Ictineu II (1864). Taking up the mantle of the celebrated Catalan engineer, the company Ictineu SL has built one of the most modern submersibles in the world. Conceived for the purposes of science and knowledge,
Ictineu III is a small, practical and transportable vehicle with an immersion capacity of 1,200 metres and boasts significant advances in respect of energy consumption, power and manoeuvrability.
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Narcís Monturiol (1819-1885) was the creator of
Ictineu I (1859) and Ictineu II (1864), the world’s
first truly functioning submarines. Indeed, some say that Ictineu II was the best submarine of the entire 19th century. His Essay on the Art
of Navigating Underwater (1891), which solved
numerous technical questions, was translated and imitated by the world’s great powers. Astute, observant and determined, Narcís Monturiol is considered one of the pioneers of submarine navigation. In this respect, the aim of Ictineu SL is to continue investigating the legacy and technical achievements of this eminent Catalan engineer.
Narcís Monturiol
all over the world to check out the landmarks achieved within the framework of this project. These include organizations of the stature of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) from the USA, the French research institute Ifremer and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (Jamstec).
Ictineu III is a private project yet has a clear vocation for public service; it has been built to contribute to scientific research. Submarines are actually very useful in the field of medical research in that the seabed is a treasure trove of unknown organisms that might provide cures for diseases such as cancer. There are also organisms on the Earth’s surface, but most of these have already been discovered.
After more than 90,000 hours in development, the third
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MIRIAM PONSA
Having won five awards at 080, she believes that “on the catwalk you create your own atmosphere to make it your own. It’s like an outpouring of the collection and it helps to explain the history behind it.” Yet Miriam puts an emphasis on the everyday work in her atelier, in the former textile factory that her great-grandfather founded in 1886, where her designs are made up, dyed, pressed, labelled and distributed. “In Catalonia you find very high quality and fairer working conditions than in other countries.” Nine years ago she opened a boutique in the Born district where 80% of her customers are foreign. Now, along with Josep Abril, Txell Miras, Andrea Ayala and Cristina Corres, she has opened a boutique in the Marais district in Paris. “In the fashion world it’s important to form partnerships, to support each other. In our case, we’ve found that this approach provides feedback and enriches us creatively.”
Text
Txell B onet
Photos Txema Salvans
The
080 Barcelona Fashion Show
provides an
umbrella for new generations of independent
designers who have inherited the city’s long-standing
bond with the world of fashion. Having started in the
spring of 2008, it is much more than just a showcase
for innovative collections. The biannual event is
being held for the fifteenth time this February,
having established itself as a platform for promoting
international synergies between industry, the media
and up-and-coming creative talents. We look back at
the event with its four last winners
From the
ate
lie
r
catwalk
132
MARTINEZ LIERAH
The firm of Daniel Lierah and Arturo Martínez is deeply rooted in Barcelona. The two of them both chose to study fashion; Arturo, from the fourth generation of Alicante shoemakers from Elda, at the Felicidad Duce Higher School of Fashion Design, and Daniel, on a scholarship from his native Mexico, at the Elisava School. “To us, Barcelona seemed a really modern city. It made my style more sophisticated and it gives you wings to be more ground-breaking”, says Lierah. Later on, they set up a studio and showroom in Paris, but their company is domiciled in Barcelona and they manufacture their clothes in a workshop just a few kilometres outside the city in Palau de Plegamans. “Paris is saturated with ideas and coming to 080 has given us an identity.” For clients from Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Kuwait and Dubai “it has given us credibility. The catwalk shows are so professionally run that they work like a business card for us.”
JOSEP ABRIL
He’s been a regular at 080 as well as a fixture in the Catalan fashion world since he founded his own brand back in 1996. “It all started when I was studying sculpture at the School of Fine Arts and I started making my own clothes.” He even ended up making the costumes for the operas by the Fura dels Baus in Sydney and showing on the international catwalks in Paris when he was creative director of Armand Basi’s men’s collections. Being very familiar with these platforms, he thinks that 080 “has the best casting in the world when it comes to models, we could never do it on our own.” Though happy to have opened a store in Paris with other Catalan designers, he loves creating here in the city. “Barcelona is a city that attracts people and it lets us travel without having to move.” He produces his garments in Catalonia because “as an independent designer, you have to be meticulous with your product. We’re not so bound by trends.”
BRAIN&BEAST
“The thing we most like about 080 is its venues, the fact that it uses some of the city’s most iconic buildings. It’s the platform that first saw us emerge and this is where we want to be, putting the Barcelona name on our label.” Thus speaks Angel Vilda who, with César Olivar and Verónica Rasposo, founded this fun, colourful brand which features numerous unisex pieces. “We love going round the city and seeing people wearing our clothes.” Even so, their boutique in the Born district has a very international clientele, especially Asian and Scandinavian customers, “who love the fact that our workshop is right above the store. Traditionally, and still today, Barcelona is a benchmark of design at numerous levels: fashion, furniture, graphic arts and even signage. As the fashion director at IDEP, I’ve noticed that a large percentage
Contemporary Catalan fashion has its roots in its long-standing textile industry. In the early 20th century, bespoke tailors started to appear who, over the years, established acclaimed haute couture ateliers. Examples include El Dique Flotante and Santa Eulalia, who put on the first catwalk shows in the 1920s. The 1940s was the decade when dressmakers became designers, such as Asunción Bastida and Pedro Rodríguez, who dressed Ava Gardner, Kim Novak and Bette Davis. Above all, it was the time of Manuel Pertegaz who, having worked in a tailor’s shop as a teenager, opened his own atelier in Barcelona in 1942. Having established himself as a master of haute couture, he refused an offer to move to Paris in 1957 to take over the House of Dior after Christian Dior’s sudden death. His many famous clients included Audrey
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Text Borja Barbesà
It’s possible for very worthwhile initiatives to emerge from the convergence of
new technologies and issues of social concern.
Vincles BCN, set up to alleviate
the isolation of the elderly
, has even seduced New York where the Bloomberg
Philanthropies foundation has awarded it first prize among more than 150
candidates; no less than five million euros to implement the project
The
Essential
Network
Barcelona City Council Day Centre Neighbour Baker Granddaughter GrandsonWhen approaching the final chapter of life, an unpalatable reality quite often rears its head: when you’re old, there’s nothing worse than loneliness. This is true not only at an emotional and motivational level but also at a practical one; there are many things that very elderly people just can’t do for themselves.
In a society like ours, in which life expectancy is increasing and with it the number of senior citizens, it’s important to take advantage of the opportunities presented by new technologies. This is the challenge addressed by Vincles BCN, a project that creates, according to its director Josep Maria Miró, “a network of trust around the senior citizen.” Every registered user can access, via a programme installed on a tablet or mobile device, all the people around them who might be of assistance. These could be family members or friends who live elsewhere, as well as neighbours, social workers, health workers or even the nearest baker. A group of eight, nine or up to ten people, the more diverse the better, who, with different levels of involvement, share the care of the elderly person and can be contacted by that person through the system should the need arise. They can make calls, send and receive multimedia content, share a calendar – for example, for medical appointments – or transfer money easily and securely.
Josep Maria Miró is the most visible face of Vincles BCN as director of ‘Social Innovation Projects for Quality of Life, Equality and Sport’ for the local council. He explains that the project has been underway for more than a year: “right from the start it was obvious that it was a scheme with great potential.” The main impetus, however, came from New York. Last September, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the foundation chaired by ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg, announced that it would provide funding of five million euros to develop and implement the initiative. This is
a direct result of Vincles BCN winning the Mayors Challenge 2014, a competition that encourages citizens to come up with innovative ideas to tackle the main challenges posed by the modern world. Barcelona’s proposal was chosen from 155 submissions.
At the end of 2014, Vincles BCN was tested using a pilot scheme of twenty users. This year it has been expanded to 200 people and next year there will be an intermediate cap of 2,000 users before the complete expansion envisaged for 2017, when 20,000 networks will be established. “Each of these phases has its own particular challenges”, explains Miró, who says modestly that “this is nothing too revolutionary, it’s a sort of private Facebook between friends, family and social agencies, and it needs to be made simple and easy to use for people who are unfamiliar with this type of technology.” The scheme provides a free tablet connected to the internet for those who don’t have one, which will be free of charge for people below a certain income threshold which is yet to be established.
The main European capital cities predict 25% of the population will be over 65 by 2040. The success of initiatives such as Vincles BCN and its possible introduction in other cities might open up new and essential doors to one of the most complex and, regrettably, unpublicized challenges facing society: managing the wellbeing of the elderly.
Maria Jordi Lluïsa Carles Oriol Pere Anna Enric Clara Roger Laia Son Granddaughter Friend Neighbour Physiotherapist
Basic operational details of the online platform
CONNECT
With the whole network, with subgroups of family and friends, or individually and privately with any member. You can connect by writing, audio, video, live chat or messaging.
CALENDAR
Manage and share dates to remember: times of visits from Social Services and appointments with doctors and physiotherapists, amongst others.
SAFE DEPOSIT BOX
There is also the option of creating a safe deposit box in which to keep essential documents securely to have them on hand whenever necessary. Access is limited to the elderly person and an assigned carer.
MONITORING
The user’s health can be monitored using parameters such as weight, amount of exercise or blood pressure levels so that alarms are triggered if the prescribed parameters are exceeded.
ADVICE
Training and support for users and their network to improve areas such as healthy living habits and money management.
CONTRIBUTE AND CELEBRATE
Post, for example, specific needs or requests for assistance, create ‘to do’ lists, and also share stories and photos with the whole network on a more celebratory and recreational basis.
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Telecare Assistance Service
Home Care Service
Rather than a burst of inspiration, good ideas often emerge from a capacity for observation, from an analysis of something that already exists. In this particular case, two architectural students thought that the balconies of the Raval district deserved something more effective and aesthetically pleasing than the plastic blinds used by residents to protect their hanging laundry. The answer, perhaps, was not in anything revolutionary but rather something rooted in the traditional cord-operated blinds. But ones that would ‘fall’ better. The new geometry of the slats proposed by Pau Sarquella and Diana Usón meant that when the blind was extended they would overlap like a tiled roof, letting through the air but not the rain or water from the balcony above.
With these and other innovations, some of them aesthetic, they won the Racons Públics competition in 2009 (Public Corners) for which the FAD – the association that promotes design and architecture in Catalonia’s economic and cultural spheres – invites people to send in ideas for small interventions in overlooked corners of the city. Their concept gave a dual benefit: on the one hand, it improved the home’s ventilation and sun protection, while
Text Borja Barbesà Photos Joan Guillamat
Wood slat blinds are a natural part of the urban landscape
of Barcelona and the Mediterranean. Around such a
seemingly trivial object, a whole ritual of use has sprung
up based on a modest yet essential piece of everyday
engineering. Taking a traditional, deep-rooted feature,
improving it and adding new functionalities, while at the
same time upholding its unique identity, is what
Persiana
Barcelona
has achieved
“In just over six months we’ve sold between 800 and 900 square metres of blinds. Bearing in mind that we’ve only just started and the size of the business, that’s not bad going,” explains Sarquella. One thing is certain, and that is that the attractive range of colours they have created, in twelve shades, has helped this promising start up. Eight of the colours are inspired by and named after iconic examples of Modernism in Barcelona, so you’ll find Milà green, Vicens beige, Batlló green and Planells brown.
It’s a blind and hence intended for use on exterior windows, but its creators did not want to restrict its use to the original idea: “we want to promote it as an interior design feature… to create a false ceiling, as a space divider… and also as a pergola for a garden or terrace, as it’s a much warmer material than plastic or canvas.” At the moment, in this respect, they have installed blinds in public spaces such as a restaurant in Lanzarote Airport where it is used as a false ceiling. From the façades of the Raval district to the world!
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Experience one city .
Discover 1Ø
Situated in the 22@ technology district of Barcelona, the OAE offers a centralized series of services which include company start-ups, financial advice, staff searches,
internationalization, business changeovers, localization, growth and innovation. The creation of this space, supported by the City Council, comes in response to Barcelona’s
determination to establish itself as a business-friendly city capable of dealing with the needs of entrepreneurs and companies in a fast and simple way.
The OAE is based on the ground floor of the unique building that houses the Barcelona Growth Centre which is also the head office of the Mobile World Capital Foundation, the Cybernarium and the research centre of the Open University of Catalonia. For this reason,
the option of using Espai Barcelona was a particularly attractive one: an area open to local and international companies where you can organize presentations to clients and
corporate meetings.
The 900 m2 of the OAE, set to become the home of business, will also host investment forums, marketplaces, sector meetings and networking sessions.
The home
of business
Text Jonàs Sensós Photos Barcelona Activa
If we follow Demosthenes’ maxim, according to whom small opportunities are often the
beginning of great enterprises, we should keep a very close eye on what the brand-new
Enterprise Service Office
(Oficina d’Atenció a l’Empresa; OAE) has to offer, a space
dedicated to providing information, advice and other services for companies
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ALPINE SKIING
Recommended resort: La Molina
Distance from Barcelona: 153 km
Sense of immersion in nature: moderate
Sense of adventure: moderate
Technical difficulty: average
Physical difficulty: average
The winter sport par excellence, Alpine or downhill skiing is synonymous with snow for most people. The ease of access, the range of different options depending on your personal skill, the wide variety of ski resorts and the excellent quality of après-ski services have consolidated downhill skiing as the most widely-practiced winter sport. Like anything this popular, it hasn’t come about by chance. The adrenaline that’s released as you fly down the slopes, testing your skills to the limit, is worth the odd queue at the chair lift.
Very close to Barcelona, the Pyrenees offer a wide variety of Alpine ski resorts. One of the most traditional, and the closest to the city, is La Molina.
Text Iñaki Barco
Illustrations Miquel Tura Rigamonti
The hustle and bustle of urban life has many plusses: cosmopolitan diversity, direct access to
knowledge hubs, proximity to centres of influence, the unlimited array of cultural and leisure
attractions… yet despite all this, each winter, with a greater or lesser frequency and intensity,
nearly every urbanite feels the lure of the piste.
Barcelona has the rare virtue of offering the most vibrant urban life along with access to a vast
array of natural oases within a radius of barely two hundred kilometres. In the asphalt jungle,
the winter is a mild one. Yet close at hand, with the infinite patience of geological time and the
power of magnets, week after week, the snow attracts squadrons of skiers thirsting for action.
Depending on their interests, experience, physical fitness, knowledge, company or taste
for adventure, everyone devises their own plan.
There are numerous very different skiing
options within easy reach of Barcelona
THE LURE
OF THE PISTES
NORDIC SKIING
Recommended resort: Tuixent – La Vansa
Distance from Barcelona: 150 km
Sense of immersion in nature: high
Sense of adventure: moderate
Technical difficulty: low
Physical difficulty: medium
SKI MOUNTAINEERING
Recommended resort: Vallter 2000
Distance from Barcelona: 154 km
Sense of immersion in nature: high
Sense of adventure: high
Technical difficulty: high
Physical difficulty: high
People who do ski mountaineering are generally from two different disciplines: expert downhill skiers and mountaineers. The former have tasted the joys of off-piste skiing and long for the big descent on fresh snow. The latter, regular practitioners of mountain-based pursuits, realize that in winter it is only on skis that one of the mountain’s most authentic facets can be fully appreciated. All of them agree on one thing: once you’ve tasted it, you’re an addict for life.
In ski mountaineering you climb and descend the mountain on skis. On the ascent, you fasten synthetic sealskin to the underside of the skis. On the descent, like off-piste skiing, it’s all about the fresh snow and the adrenaline rush. Even so, it’s a challenging, high-risk sport which calls for skiing expertise as well as
A day never ends in Barcelona without a little big discovery. Curious,
creative, captivating and committed, Barcelona boasts one of the
best European science parks in the field of research today. Its
cutting-edge medical resources, local and international talent and
quality of life, make it an important reference point and benchmark
for the entire scientific community. A breakthrough discovery.
4
thEUROPEAN CITY IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.
Source:Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
Barcelona City Council appreciates the generous support of Anna Veiga.
SOMETHING NEW
EVERY DAY”
HELI SKIING
Recommended resort: Vielha
Distance from Barcelona: 288 km
Sense of immersion in nature: high
Sense of adventure: high
Technical difficulty: high
Physical difficulty: average
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This year, 2015, is the International Year of Light. To coincide with this event, the Llum BCN festival is scheduling activities for 6, 7, 8 and 12 February in a number of locations. Students from schools of design, architecture and lighting will be filling the mediaeval patios of the old quarter with innovative ideas, transforming them into magical places in which to immerse yourself. Their creations have made Santa Eulàlia weep tears of ice, transformed the horizon into dancing light, created windows in solid walls, changed a patio into a submerged garden or made it go on a thrilling journey through time. This year there will be around a dozen locations to visit.
One of the other big attractions of the festival is the projection of images onto the façade of the Town Hall and other iconic buildings in the city (La Pedrera and Casa Batlló). The Plaça Sant Jaume is thus transformed into an open air cinema where you can admire even more spectacular mappings than those projected onto the council’s headquarters during the Mercè, the city’s main festival that takes place in the autumn. A farm, a trip to the moon, a magical house, a disco or the fruits of an exchange of ideas with the city of Stockholm are just some of the scenes you can enjoy there.
Finally, between each of the light displays there are three possible routes to take through the Gothic Quarter, each of them fascinating and full of surprises, with side activities taking place at points along the way. It all adds up to Llum BCN being a dazzling event during which Barcelona will doubtlessly experience its brightest night.
Text Helena Martínez Guimet
Photos Pere Albiac
Design, technology and poetic creativity. For the fourth consecutive year these
are the concepts behind
Llum BCN
, Barcelona’s Festival of Light, which coincides
with the Saint Eulàlia celebrations. Patios and nooks of the Gothic Quarter
become sculptures of moving light, night games that reshape the architecture
and create imaginative mirages through mapping on the facade of the Town Hall.
A unique offering that has been growing steadily year on year
The brightest
night
1. The Ciutadella Park is one of the epicentres of Llum BCN 2. The Memory of the Mirror in the Convent of St Augustine
3. The Way to the Gate guides visitors on a stroll through the Ciutadella Park 4. Contribution of the students of the Theatre Institute at the Palau Finestres, now part of the Picasso Museum
2
3
Text Josep Sucarrats
Photos Carles Allende & Enrique Marco
OK, the title isn’t ours. We’ve appropriated it with the
permission of the Californian food writer Colman Andrews
– author of ‘Catalan Cuisine: Europe’s Last Great Culinary
Secret’. Strolling through Barcelona, we’re assailed on all
sides by Asian, Peruvian and Mexican restaurants (the latest
trend) as well as noteworthy exponents of local avant-garde
cuisine. But is there no Catalan cuisine to be found in the
Catalan capital? You bet there is. Here are some suggestions
for where you can taste ‘mar i muntanya’ (surf’n’turf)
or Barcelona-style cannelloni. In a city so enamoured of
modern cuisine, tradition is the secret ingredient which, like
Colman Andrews, you didn’t expect to discover.
T H E L A S T
C U L I N E R Y
Pork and poultry are the most important meats in the Catalan larder
PETIT COMITÈ
The ideologies guiding this restaurant were already in evidence in 2008 when Barcelona lacked benchmark establishments serving Catalan haute cuisine. Petit Comitè opened with the aim of filling that gap. Today it is managed by Nandu Jubany, the chef who won a Michelin star for the restaurant he ran in the province of Osona, in Catalonia’s interior. Jubany is renowned as one of the leading exponents of contemporary Catalan cuisine based on traditional origins. While it’s true that his cannelloni are acclaimed, so are his rice dishes. Petit Comitè’s menu features creamy rice with red prawns and cuttlefish, rice with baby squid and padrón peppers, and dry senyoret rice (with sea cucumber, prawns, monkfish and squid).
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SERGI DE MEIÀ
This has been one of the culinary revelations this year in Barcelona. The restaurant’s eponymous chef, Sergi de Meià, was already recognised for his commitment to promoting high quality produce —he is closely involved in the Slow Food movement—and using popular homespun recipes as the basis for his culinary creations. In his tiny restaurant, with the feel of a traditional Catalan country house in miniature, he exploits these criteria to the full: his motto is “uncomplicated Catalan cuisine and 100% local”. To achieve this he has signed up Adelaida, his mother, who had been a cook years ago and knows very well what dishes used to be served in the region’s hostelries.
Some of these can be found today at Sergi de Meià: pig’s trotters, seafood rice, game dishes, wild mushrooms... if you love fish, try a suquet – a Catalan version of bouillabaisse – made with the day’s market-fresh catch. Obviously, you’re going to find the fish in this casserole absolutely delicious. But the best things are the humble potatoes hidden in the dish’s sauce which condense all the flavours of this most Mediterranean of dishes.
Aribau, 106. 08036 Barcelona Tel. 931 25 57 10
www.restaurantsergidemeia.cat
FREIXA TRADICIÓ
For many years, working from the same premises in the Sant Gervasi district, chef Ramon Freixa has been responsible for one of Barcelona’s most avant-garde menus. But the talent of this chef – who has been awarded two Michelin stars – is to travel, and today he can go to Colombia passing through Madrid without ever leaving his home city. Here he has left his father, Josep Maria, in charge of the kitchen and his mother Dori dispensing her savoir faire in the dining room. Along with them, he has transformed a family establishment into a benchmark restaurant for traditional Catalan cuisine. His father has passed on all his know-how acquired over decades as a chef in the top classical restaurants of Catalonia’s interior. The menu at Freixa Tradició reads like a précis of the best traditional recipes.
If you want to know about cooking Catalan-style macaroni – with the juice of roasted meat and never al dente – this is where they make the very best. You’ll find poultry – like the super-traditional rolled free-range chicken stuffed with prunes – along with local eccentricities such as surf’n’turf – a combination of meat and fish on the same plate: in this case delicious calamari stuffed with meat. And obviously there are dishes featuring cod, for centuries the most widely eaten fish in Catalonia, often accompanied with
samfaina, the Catalan version of ratatouille.
Sant Elies, 22. 08006 Barcelona Tel. 93 209 75 59
www.freixatradicio.com
The ideologies guiding this restaurant
were already in evidence in 2008
when Barcelona lacked benchmark
establishments serving Catalan haute
cuisine. Petit Comitè opened with the aim
of filling that gap
Cod is the most widely eaten fish in Catalonia’s inland provinces
Fish stews are typical of the Mediterranean area and in Catalonia they are known as ‘suquets’
Barcelona discovered Italian cuisine in the 19th century but such is its integration that today it seems as if cannelloni have always been made here
GAIG
No other chef represents the essence of Barcelona’s cuisine more than Carles Gaig. Having descended from a long line of restaurateurs – his family’s first tavern was opened in 1869 – his restaurant brings together avant-garde creations that he has spent 20 years developing along with the recipes handed down by his forebears: mother, grandmother and great grandmother. In recognition of this duality, difficult to find in any other restaurant in the world, the Michelin Guide has awarded it one of its stars.
We suggest you go there to taste such typically Catalan dishes as cod fritters, pig’s trotters with salsify, tripe and capipota casserole (literally head and trotters!), or his cardinal-style macaroni. That said, if there is one dish has made Carles Gaig famous, it is his Barcelona-style cannelloni, a dish that Catalans prepare when celebrating special holidays – especially St Stephen’s Day which falls the day after Christmas. The pasta tubes are packed with a mixture of three meats – beef, chicken and pork – covered with béchamel sauce and then gratinated. The assumption is that they originated in Italy, but Catalan grandmothers will convince you that they’ve always really come from here.
More information at
bcn.cat/business
what a company needs to suceed is here under one roof:
COMPANY INCORPORATION -- RECRUITMENT SEARCHES -- LIAISON WITH OTHER STAKEHOLDERS IN THE CITY LEGAL ADVISE -- BUSINESS LOCATION -- INFORMATION ON LEGAL, IMMIGRATION AND MUNICIPAL PROCEDURES
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BARCELONA BUSINESS SUPPORT OFFICE OPEN FOR BUSINESS
In 1993, poet Joan Brossa decided to crown the new façade of the Chartered Surveyors’ Association with El Llagost (The Locust), a creature that symbolises wisdom for the Indian cultures of Mexico
Standing in the Excorxador Park, the Woman and Bird sculpture was created by Joan Miró
Live! / Innovation / Knowledge /
Meeting Point / Sports
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Arissa. Shade and the Photographer
One of the most eminent exponents of the avant-garde, photographer Antoni Arissa plays with reflections, light and shade. These 161 black-and-white prints, being shown together for the first time, achieve their ultimate expressiveness in geometric shapes.
CCCB
Carrer de Montalegre, 5 Until 12 April
Philharmonia
Orchestra London
One of the great London orchestras performs Beethoven’s Third Symphony – Eroica – one of the scores that led to the huge transformation in romantic music in the 19th century. Other
pieces include the Coriolan Overture based on the legendary Roman hero and Chopin’s second piano concerto.
L’Auditori
Carrer de Lepant, 150 29 January
On the table. Ai Weiwei
Designed exclusively by Ai Weiwei for the Virreina space, this extensive exhibition showcases the artistic trajectory of this Chinese artist and activist. Some pieces are being exhibited for the first time in an installation designed especially for the exhibition.
La Virreina La Rambla, 99 Until 1 February
Festival Tradicionàrius
Barcelona’s international folk music festival kicks off a new edition with the very best of the world’s most popular sounds.
Various venues 9 January – 27 March
Tweedy
Jeff Tweedy, the singer, composer and guitarist from Wilco stars with his son in The Tweedy Band quintet, performing a selection of their best material.
L’Auditori
Carrer de Lepant, 150 2 February
Barcelona, neutral zone (1914-1918)
Bearing witness to a period of major change, this exhibition presents the full cultural offering that was available in the Barcelona of the First World War: a journey from the modernity of the 19th century through to the avant-gardists and the exiled artists in Paris, and from wartime
propaganda to the boxing bouts between Arthur Cravan and Jack Johnson.
Miró Foundation Parc de Montjuïc 24 October – 15 February
Katy Perry
With more than 10 million records sold worldwide and voted the best female artist at the MTV European Music Awards, the charismatic US singer visits Barcelona to present her latest album,
Prism.
