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Made in Barcelona
The world owes Barcelona, big time. For a start, in the fashion world there are the global
brands
Mango
(women’s clothes),
Camper
(shoes) and
Custo
(designer T-shirts), each
of which started out in the city. Suitably togged up, you don’t just drink a beer here, it’s
an
Estrella Damm
(tagline, the “beer of Barcelona”), a brew that sponsors everything
from the Primavera Sound rock festival to Americas Cup yacht racing – in a neat bit of
local synergy, they got Custo to knock up a typically colourful limited-edition design
bottle to celebrate their 130th birthday in 2006. And then there are
Chupa Chups
(from
the Spanish
chupar
, to lick), the lolly on a stick invented by one Enric Bernat in 1958 –
Salvador Dalí, no less, designed the company logo; Kojak in the 1970s TV series
wouldn’t be without one; and Chupa Chups even made it aboard the
Mir
space station.
Meanwhile, radical poet, publisher and inventor Alejandro Finisterre (admittedly, born in
Galicia) was convalescing outside Barcelona after a bomb injury suffered during the Civil
War, when he first came up with the idea for the game of
table football
(
bar football,
foosball
). He took out a patent in Barcelona in 1937 and, though there are competing
claims, he’s often regarded as the man subsequently responsible for endless hours
wasted in bars worldwide.
shirts anywhere on the Ramblas, but for
official merchandise the stadium megastore
has it all – including that all-important
lettering service for the back of the shirt that
elevates you to the squad.
Decathlon
c/de la Canuda 20, at Pl. Vila de
Madrid, Barri Gòtic
T
933 426 161,
W
www
.decathlon.es;M
Catalunya; plus others.
They’ve got clothes and equipment for 63
sports in the old-town megastore, so you’re
bound to find what you want. Also bike
rental and repair.
Toys, magic, costume and party wear
Almacen Marabi
c/Flassaders 30, La
Ribera, no phone;
M
Jaume I.
Mariela
Marabi, originally from Argentina, makes
handmade felt finger dolls, mobiles, puppets
and animals of extraordinary invention. Her
eye-popping workshop also has limited-
edition pieces by other selected artists and
designers.
Drap
c/del Pi 14, Barri Gòtic
T
933 181 417,
W
www.ample24.com/drap;
M
Liceu.
Everything
is in miniature in this extraordinary dolls’
house outfitters. Really, everything – asking
for a set of bedroom furniture hardly
stretches the talents of a place that can fit
out a minuscule dentist’s surgery or a
complete art gallery.
El Ingenio
c/Rauric 6–8, Barri Gòtic
T
933
177 138,
W
www.el-ingenio.com;
M
Liceu.
Juggling, magic and street-performer shop
with a
modernista
storefront. It’s also the
place to come for carnival costumes and
masks, made in the workshop on the
premises.
El Rey de la Màgia
c/Princesa 11, Sant Pere
T
933 193 920,
W
www.elreydelamagia.com;
M
Jaume I.
Spain’s oldest magic shop
contains all the tricks of the trade, from
rubber chickens to Dracula capes. They
also do weekend magic shows (Sat at 6pm,
Sun at noon).
Xalar
Bxda. Llibreteria 4, Barri Gòtic
T
933 150
458;
M
Jaume I.
Designer and hand-crafted
toys – traditional games, dolls’ houses, toy
theatres and puppets.
SHOPPING
|
Toys,
magic, costume and party wear