Barcelona 2

I am coming to the end of my trip and am making the most of Spanish cuisine.

My family took me to a restaurant on the 'beach' to eat black paella and octopus. Although the paella look burnt, it is in fact cooked with a lot of squid ink which has a wonderful taste.

The octopus on the other hand is very simply cooked and cut, then sprinkled with paprika and sea salt - mmm!

My last interview was another favourite. I had wanted to meet this Toni Cumella right from the start - just have a look at their website:www.cumella.net/quisom.htm you need to know a bit of French or Spanish to understand the Catalan.

Right from the start of our talk he confessed that it was his privileged upbringing, surrounded by intellectuals and artists that enabled him to see a future in his craft. He understands the importance of quality and open-mindedness and fears that a lot of traditional craftsmen in Spain are handicapped by only looking towards the passed instead of searching for opportunities in the future.

It all comes down to education and on that note he gave me a tour round the factory. Unfortunately it was the last day before the summer holidays officially start and the 10 workmen had left. However, his son was there and he is taking an active role in the company.


Toni showed me how they display the different glaze colours and the oven he had dezined that can be lifted up and over a second crate of ceramics.

While I was in Barcelona there was an exhibition of his latest
project: Villa Nurbs - www.ruiz-geli.com/04_html/04_villanurbs.html

Worth a look even if the images take a little while to download.
I feel I have learnt so much and met such amazing people that it is going to take a while for everything to sink in.

The influence of Gaudi and the Catalan "Modernist movement" is very strong and I wish all regions of Spain could boast of a creative movement.

Spain is so varied in scenery, culture, food and personalities. It makes it a difficult country to decipher or generalize about. My first interview with Mercedes Valcárcel from the "Fundación Española para la Innovación de la Artesanía"comes to mind when she expressed the difficulties of communicating between the different regions, each with its own local government and ways of doing things.

On one of my last evenings I was very lucky to get some tickets to a guitar concert in the famous

Palau de la Música Catalana

It was a recital of famous Spanish music and a lovely way to end this trip.



I left Barcelona and joined friends in the countryside outside Gerona for a week, eating well, sleeping well and soaking in the sun.

Thank you for dipping into my whereabouts from time to time and do come to the exhibition when it is up next month.

If you have any questions about the people I met or places I visited, don't hesitate to get in touch.

Warmest wishes
Monica