Posts by Spain for Design
Inspiration: Rawcoco Green Bar, Gijon, Asturias
Erika Anes has been very interested and linked to the arts since childhood, an interest which prompted her to study photography and lighting in Oviedo. In 2014 she started working for Mediadvanced, a multidisciplinary creative agency that develops communication, image, photography, art, marketing, and e-commerce projects. Erika has worked for several Spanish brands and companies in…
Read MoreAsturias for Design
Spain for Design commissioned Oviedo-based photographer Erika Anes to shoot five commercial spaces with standout designs in Gijon, Asturias’ largest city, and Oviedo, the capital city. The Collector Concept Store (Gijon) The owner of the Collector Concept Store created a space in which art, culture, and fashion comfortably coexist. The upper floor displays a masterful mix of…
Read MoreJosé Santamarina: El Maestro
With over 50 years in the industry, Oviedo-born José Santamarina Laviada, the co-founder of Santamarina Diseñadores, is a reference in the field of graphic art in Spain. Throughout his career, he has designed graphic and logo design, brand identity, signage, brochures, books, packaging, and illustration. From 1961 to 1963, he worked as a teacher at…
Read MoreTadanori Yamaguchi: Shaped by Nature
Sculptor Tadanori Yamaguchi completed studies in painting in his native Japan. During the year before graduation, he accepted an offer of an internship with a sculptor and thus began his dedication to this art form. He has lived and worked in Asturias since 1998, after receiving a grant to study in Spain from the Spanish Ministry of…
Read MoreWoodic: Bringing Technology to the Traditional
Woodic -a contraction of wood + ceramic- is the ceramic art studio that Natalia Suarez opened in 2018. A graduate of the University of Barcelona in Fine Arts with a specialty in design, she pursued further education in Artistic Ceramics at the Barcelona Arts and Crafts School in Llotja, San Andreu. Natalia’s work reflects her…
Read MoreUn Nido de Culebras: Innovative Leather Art
“Where do ideas come from, ways of making…? Well, from the world, from all those who made in the past and those who make in the present. What do I know?” Narciso Galan Narciso Galan (Somines, Grado, Asturias) The story of Narciso Galan’s studio Un Nido de Culebras began in 1987. “I have never worked…
Read MoreCeramica Soluna: Faces and Masks
Originally from Madrid, María Tejada (“Marietta”) creates ceramics from her studio, Cerámica Soluna, in Cudillero, Asturias. She came to the craft by chance, through a friend who was studying it in Madrid. She took courses to learn more about it and moved to Asturias in 2006, where she continued to perfect her technique. Her pieces-…
Read MoreCristina Mato: Clay in Motion
Cristina Mato is a ceramic artist, based in Oviedo. “I started ceramics as a hobby 15 years ago. I immediately knew that it was my calling. I kept at it, taking lessons at the Escuela Municipal de Artes Plásticas de Oviedo, and participating in workshops with ceramic masters. The beginning of my artistic career took…
Read MoreAsturias for Artisans
Asturias has a wealth of artisan traditions, notably in wood, metal crafts, bladesmith (knives from Taramundi), and pieces made with azabachea (jet stone). Artisans in Asturias continue to work in traditional crafts, but many are making them contemporary by, for example, using technology in their processes. Others are dispensing with traditional ways of making and finding their…
Read MoreCongress Center in Oviedo, Spain by Santiago Calatrava
Asturias for Architecture
Asturias has no shortage of architecturally significant buildings and monuments, including the most complete collection of late medieval architecture in Western Europe. Dating from the ninth and early tenth centuries, they are unparalleled for their quality and preservation in their original state. Asturias is known for pre-Romanesque architecture, six of which have UNESCO World Heritage status, one…
Read MoreAsturias: Memories of a Natural Paradise
“Asturias, paraíso natural” (“Asturias, Natural Paradise”) is the official slogan of Turismo Asturias, the tourism office of the Principality of Asturias. Parts of this northern region of Spain are on the Northern Route of the Way of Saint James, popularly known as the Camino de Santiago. It has a breathtaking landscape, where the mountain and sea…
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