Streetlife: Carrer de Sèneca
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Cuervo Cobblerblack Bird
Put simply, Teresa Folguera and her husband, Emili Guirao, like to make shoes. “Emili became interested initially and taught himself. As it is a dying craft, he had to hunt down old and out-of-print books on the subject in order to learn, and was lucky enough to find a mentor in a shoe shop in the Raval. I later learned the skill from a wonderful teacher from England,” said Folguera. The pair opened Cuervo Cobblerblack Bird, a shoemaking, repair and shine shop in 2006, choosing Sèneca for its relatively cheap rents, location near Gràcia, and the number of art galleries and other bespoke product stores on the street. Although at first a difficult business venture, Folguera said things have gotten easier. “At first we had to trawl eBay to find the rare tools and materials we needed, but now we’re able to easily order and import what we need from Japan.” It’s just as well, because the cuervos—the formal patent leather men’s shoes they specialise in—are a thing of handmade beauty.
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AOO
For a company that specialises in locally sourced wooden furniture, it’s no surprise that AOO’s showroom is timber trimmed. “Basically everything here is made from wood,” said Marc Morro, who established the company in 2013 with business partner Oriol Villar, in order to promote local production. “We like things made here; it’s what makes sense to us.” The duo make some of the furniture themselves, but also work with local craftspeople and manufacturers from Barcelona, Valencia, Lleida and Mallorca. Although AOO’s furniture designs incorporate other materials, wood is always the starting point for their pieces. “It’s for a few reasons,” said Morro. “Its smell, its warmth, its ease to work with. If people don’t like wood, we send them next door to OX, a vintage Scandinavian furniture company. We’re all good friends and often collaborate.”
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Galería Miquel Alzueta
Galeria Miquel Alzueta sits across the street from AOO and OX, but you might have a harder time finding it. Passing a large number ‘9’ emblazoned in neon light on the wall, a wide, dark tunnel leads into a courtyard, which conceals a small flight of stairs leading down into another, even longer and darker tunnel. But there is something different about this narrow passageway: the walls shimmer with a metallic sheen, and at the other end, light from the gallery entrance guides you. For such a claustrophobic entrance, the exhibition space is surprisingly light and open. “The building was an old factory, which had to be redesigned and rebuilt to make it what it is today,” explained Laura Rigal, a gallery employee. It finally opened in 2000, with the primary aim of promoting the 30 Spanish artists with whom the gallery works. A highlight is a collection by architect and designer Jean Prouvé, pieced together in the last decade, as well as a collection of furniture designed by European architects in the Fifties.
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Paral·lelo
It’s been exactly a year since Marco Giancaterino, 29, and three of his friends—all from San Remo, Italy—opened their ice cream shop on Carrer de Sèneca. More than a retailer, Paral·lelo is a working test kitchen, where they create flavours no one else is offering. “We’ve even had customers from Rome, New York, everywhere, suggest different flavours that we try out and sell,” said Giancaterino. A large cart by the door displays the intriguing results, from an avocado sorbet to vegan pistachio, saffron and black sesame gelato. “We make new flavours every week,” Giancaterino added. “My favourite right now is the Macondo, a dark chocolate and coffee sorbet."