ELIURPI

By a stroke of luck, one can find oneself pursuing an idea in the heart of the old city of Barcelona. It is necessary to abandon conventions to prepare oneself for discovery. The first time I visited ELIURPI's studio in a historical building in the Barrio Gotico, I found myself completely immersed in their imaginative and peculiar reality. Plant fibre, Elisabet Urpí and Nacho Umpiérrez's material of choice, is the common thread running through every element, literally: all their pieces are imagined and designed from a simple straw. The purity of the lines, the lightweight installations, the sculptural objects that nevertheless maintain a functional dimension, are created in this small workshop that revived the traditional technique of sombrerería, the manufacturing of Spanish sombreros, to give it a new perspective and restore it to a central role in the international artistic production. A work deeply rooted in the history of a specific region, which nevertheless manages to speak cross languages, connected to different places in the world, stirring deep emotions and memories in people far away from each other - they received an honourable mention at the Cheongju Craft Biennale in South Korea in 2023. But the creative duo has not limited itself to material research and the innovation of typical workmanship: one of the most interesting aspects developed in these few years has been their ability to transcend categories and paradigms. Try it to believe it: there is no point in attempting to attribute a categorisation to these objects. Whether they are hats or furniture or works of art, whether they are part of the world of design, fashion or art is beyond dispute. This is an issue of great relevance to the creativity of our time. What is really important is to fully understand the reality and values of ELIURPI. To know their truth, putting yourself in a listening mode without prejudice. Tiny things, it is known, can have a huge impact. The forms and poetry of ELIURPI teach us that, if the rules of the game are narrow and inadequate, there is nothing to stop us from inventing another world made to measure for us. Just one of many, infinite possible worlds.

Curated by Mr. Lawrence