BARCELONA Innovative & Creative Business FINANCIAL TIMES SPECIAL REPORT | Tuesday March 22 2011 www.ft.com/barcelona­2011 | twitter.com/ftreports

Inside this issue Automotive Art and Globalisation has forced traditional manufacturers to explore new avenues industry Page 2 Biotech Lack of a local champion and of funding raise questions about the prospects for make for a the capital hungry sector Page 2

Football Running the gaudy mix city’s hugely successful football Victor Mallet This is a city of European team takes commerce and industrial revolu- more than examines how creative tion, but also of art and culture. just skill on the pitch and design businesses Barcelona is the city that nur- Page 3 tured artists Pablo Picasso and are coping in the wake Joan Miró, and the home of Profit tonic Fever­Tree, of the financial crisis architect Antoni Gaudí, whose which makes premium long unfinished Sagrada Familia drink mixers, explains why (Holy Family) church was the group is expanding in arcelona has never finally consecrated last year by Spain Page 4 been afraid of the new. Pope Benedict XVI. Not every- This is, after all, the one likes the works of Gaudí Publishing Barcelona has city that in the 13th that dominate parts of Barce- Vibrant city: Barcelona is regarded as a world centre for design and architecture Dreamstime a rich literary history Bcentury opted for a form of gov- lona, but no one ever accused Page 5 ernment closer to democracy him of lacking originality. Overseas investment into ety into action after a decade or gross domestic product. Such such as Ferran Adrià already than most other systems of the Barcelona has repeatedly Barcelona so of shrugged shoulders and growth businesses include fash- renowned throughout the world. Gourmet reinvention time – the Consell de Cent, or rebuilt and modernised itself to unproductive nostalgia over the ion and design, an industry that “Barcelona is a very diversi- Total project investment ($m) The chef behind El Bulli is Council of One Hundred, whose maintain its hard-won prosper- successful initiatives of the past. builds on Barcelona’s traditional fied city. We don’t have one sec- shutting the restuarant to imposing assembly hall adorned ity, as it did in order to make an 600 “The crisis is helping to pull strengths in textiles and archi- tor, we have several, old and with Catalan flags can still be exemplary success of hosting together civil society and there tecture and takes advantage of new: food, cars, housing, tour- open a culinary foundation Page 6 seen at the municipal offices in the 1992 Olympic Games. 500 are a lot of initiatives from peo- the creative flair of local and ism,” says Jordi William Carnes, the old city centre. Now it must do so again, as ple not involved in politics.” foreign inhabitants. deputy mayor. “What we’ve The Council lasted more than Catalonia, Spain and indeed the 400 Ms Prats is part of a group of Barcelona and Catalonia have done with all of them is help four centuries, its durability whole of southern Europe strug- organisations, entrepreneurs also invested their hopes – and with their renewal.” Barcelona More on FT.Com attributed by Robert Hughes, gle to emerge from a global 300 and professionals called Barce- their money – in biotechnology Activa, the municipality’s local Guest author of a cultural history of financial crisis and the subse- lona Global that is trying to pro- and biomedicine, and in high- development agency, says it 200 Column Barcelona, to the fact that it quent eurozone sovereign debt mote competitiveness, innova- tech electronics and services supports more than 1,000 new Alfons was flexible and not completely crisis – a challenge that has tion and technological research companies that can move projects a year, and hosts 115 100 Sauquet dominated by wealthy mer- already driven Greece and Ire- in the city, while improving beyond their involvement in companies at its business “incu- explains why chants. “A leather worker, a tai- land into the arms of rescuers social cohesion, education and traditional industries such as bator” and technology park. 0 lor, a cooper, or a smith might from the European Union and Barcelona’s international image. vehicle manufacturing to apply Yet the length of the current he thinks sit in session with a trading the International Monetary 2003 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 For years, both the private their skills to the electric cars, economic crisis affecting the Barcelona banker or the biggest spice Fund, with Portugal perhaps Source: FDI Intelligence from sector and government – aerospace applications and whole of Spain, and the eco- has become a hub importer in Barcelona in terms not far behind. Financial Times Ltd national, regional and municipal information technologies of the nomic austerity plans designed for innovation and of voting equality,” he wrote. Julia Prats, assistant profes- MORE ON FT.COM – have targeted promising secto- future. to cut the nation’s annual creative industries But the innovations of Barce- sor of entrepreneurship at Iese, ral clusters for investment in Then there are the services budget deficit and limit the FT.com/barcelona­2011 lona, capital of Catalonia and the Barcelona-based business For more on FDI in the city, go to the 27 municipalities of greater connected to tourism: cruise growth of government debt, are Spain’s second city, did not stop school, says these crises seem to www.ft.com/fdibarcelona Barcelona that together account ship visits, hotels, trade fairs, at politics and administration. have galvanised Barcelona soci- for 60 per cent of Catalonia’s and food, with Catalan chefs Continued on Page 2 2 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES TUESDAY MARCH 22 2011 Barcelona: Innovative & Creative Business From car door panels to hybrid batteries

time in 2007, while the number Now, both the regional gov- One company emblematic of side Barcelona. “We made the As part of this strategy the Automotive of vehicles produced in Catalo- ernment and local players in the this shift is Ficosa, a family- argument to move into what we company is investing in source nia was 120,657 lower in 2009 automotive technology sector owned car parts manufacturer could see was the growing over- and supply batteries, developing Globalisation has than in 2004, according to data are hoping that a rebalancing founded in 1949 that has moved lap between the auto sector and and testing safer types of chas- forced traditional from the Catalan government. towards high-tech and green car quickly to start producing an electronics.” sis, and constructing a servicing Mirror image: In an effort to combat this technology will allow one of array of green and electronic The Villadecavallis factory, system for electric motorcycles. manufacturers to companies such combination of vigorous foreign Catalonia’s most important auto gadgets. These include previously used by Sony to man- A study into the benefits of explore new avenues, as Ficosa are competition and a falling share industries over the past 100 technology to detect when a ufacturer television sets and green car technology for the shifting from of exports to the European mar- years to remain relevant during driver falls asleep at the wheel, other home electronics, has Catalan regional government says Miles Johnson simple car parts ket, the region’s car industry the next century. and paper-thin car aerials. become the centre of Ficosa’s argues that companies in the into electronics has begun to refocus on green While the Catalan automotive In 2005, Vicenç Aguilera, head drive to develop new technol- region are well placed in the and electronic technologies to sector is headed by two large of research and development at ogy, where it manages a portfo- electric motorcycle industry, f all of Barcelona’s export to other, faster foreign vehicle assemblers, Seat Ficosa, made the recommenda- lio of more than 600 active pat- helped in part by demand from surviving heavy indus- growing parts of the (owned by Volkswagen) and tion to the company’s board to ents and serves clients includ- the large metropolitan area of tries, few have been world. Renault, a number of local sys- begin shifting its strategic focus ing Continental, the tyre group, Barcelona, and closeness to forced to transform In March 2009, the tem and component companies away from making simple steel and Hewlett-Packard. other European export markets. Othemselves in the face of glo- Catalan govern- operate on a global scale, and plastic-based car parts, and Another Barcelona-based com- Ficosa’s Mr Aguilera says that balisation as much the city’s ment approved a attempting to diversify their into electronics. pany moving towards green car the process of shifting the focus vehicle manufacturers. programme for businesses towards high-tech Focusing on three core areas – technology is Applus, Spain’s of businesses such as his The Catalan automotive green vehicles and environmentally-focused electronic safety devices, wire- largest certification and car towards innovative technologi- industry, which in 2009 made up as part of a 10- technology. less communication, and hybrid inspection company that has cal products for cars will enable 10 per cent of the region’s out- year strategy A report commissioned by the and battery technology – Ficosa allocated €7.8m to examine Ficosa to remain rooted in Cata- put and 15 per cent of its for the region’s regional government last year now invests 4 per cent of its ways to service electric and lonia while continuing to exports, has suffered a slow car manufac- argued that “electric vehicles turnover in research and devel- hybrid cars. expand in developing markets. long-term decline because of turers to ensure present an opportunity for the opment. Applus, which employs 11,000 “The roots of the company are increasing competition from the local indus- Catalan automotive sector to “In the year 2000, the com- globally and in 2007 received an here,” he says. “If you want to emerging markets, combined try maintains its turn this situation round. A pany was in the process of glo- investment of €1.48bn from Car- be a leader, you need to be at with the impact of the economic weighting in Cata- capacity to produce green vehi- balising, and realised the need lyle – the largest private equity the front. Ficosa came into this crisis on its domestic economy. lan gross domestic cles is not only an opportunity to invest in its own research investment in Spain at the time, part of the car business as a Spain’s share of vehicle pro- product, and that but a necessity as, at first sight, and development programme,” has said that it is aiming to gen- follower. But you can’t expand duction within the European companies remain com- the automotive sector’s future he says from the company’s erate 15 per cent of turnover your business unless you put Union fell below that of eastern petitive in the global seems to rely on getting on this 6,000 square metre “innovation from high-tech services devel- better solutions, and better tech- European countries for the first marketplace. bandwagon”. centre” in Villadecavallis out- oped over the past four years. nology in front of your clients.” Hub faces intense competition

hospitals and universities research centres in the from the presence of located here in Catalonia, Biotechnology made the city an ideal petri- 1980s, along with a scheme MareNostrum, one of the but nowadays the size you dish to cultivate existing to recruit researchers from most powerful supercom- have to achieve to be com- Lack of local leader research talent in life sci- abroad to join them, the puters in Europe, which in petitive is crazy. Even if and funding raise ences and biotechnology. next decade saw a boom in 2006 saw its processing they merged all of them, it “There was a strong, gov- science parks being built capacity increased because would still be difficult.” questions, writes ernment-led strategy to around universities, helping of the big demand from sci- Catalonia faces stiff com- Miles Johnson build a research base here to foster research projects entific projects. petition from other biotech in the 1980s,” says Montser- between academia and com- However, in spite of these hubs in Europe, such as rat Vendrell, chief execu- panies. efforts, Spain and Catalonia Cambridge in the United tive of Biocat, a local gov- This focus has helped lack a local champion that Kingdom, and Flanders in Barcelona is a city that ernment-fostered umbrella Barcelona become a centre can compete in scale and Belgium, and researchers must play to its strengths. organisation set up to pro- of excellence for biotechnol- scope against the world’s also say that there is a lack This was the philosophy mote the biotechnology ogy in Spain, with almost a leading companies. of international private adopted by the Catalan gov- industry within Catalonia. quarter of all Spanish bio- Almirall, Spain’s largest funding available, in spite ernment when deciding “We had the right ingredi- tech companies located in pharmaceutical company, of local venture capital which research-based indus- ents here in terms of hospi- Barcelona. Barcelona-based and valued groups. tries would represent the tals and a consolidated The number of new com- at €1.2bn ($1.67bn), is small Ms Vendrell argues that future of the region’s econ- pharmaceutical sector, and panies being established in in international terms, as is the nature of the biotech- omy after the end of the this was topped with the Catalonia is growing at a its peer Zeltia. nology sector, where Franco period. right management of rate of 30 per cent a year, “There is no very large projects need large-scale Family-owned pharma- research and a scheme to while more than 60 per cent Spanish biotech company, investment and many years ceuticals companies had recruit intentional talent.” of European research and this is important,” says being nurtured from existed around Barcelona After a regional govern- grants coming to Spain are Ms Vendrell. infancy to market, means for more than half a cen- ment-led drive to create a now awarded to Catalonia. “We have medium-sized the state can play a role in tury and an abundance of network of independent The region also benefits pharmaceuticals companies providing early capital for important projects that could otherwise be ignored for being too risky. “With biotechnology, you really have to go a little bit further than you would do in other areas, since we are talking about very risky long development processes that are far from the mar- ket,” she says. Joaquim Vilà, professor of strategic management at Barcelona’s Iese business Scientific rigour: Catalonia’s midsized companies struggle to compete at a global level school and an expert in bio- technology companies, says based venture capital group millions off research budg- And, in spite of the government schemes to pro- Ysios Capital Partners. ets, if the sector’s potential progress that Catalonia’s mote the sector in Catalo- In 2009, Ysios and the Cat- to benefit the economy is to biotech project has made in nia must merely augment, alan savings bank, La be realised. just two decades, the global rather than crowd out initi- Caixa, made a €5m invest- “Funding research is stra- economic downturn may atives funded by private ment in Sabirmedical, a tegically important for a have made the prospect of capital. company based in the Bar- country that wants to cre- finding a local success story “Government is not an celona Science Park which ate its own knowledge- more remote. alternative, but a comple- is developing a non-invasive based economy,” she says. “I am not saying there is ment to private invest- device that continually “But the question is: How not a chance, but this field ment,” he says. measures patients’ blood far should you go from has been very late in com- Fledgling local companies pressure. basic research to where the ing up in Spain,” says Mr have been helped by the Ms Vendrell of Biocat market takes over to launch Vilà. emergence of private inves- says it is crucial to continue a sector? Our biotech sector “If companies that are 20 tors such as the €67m bio- funding the sector, even as has a short history and we years ahead are having tech investment fund Spanish government auster- need a success story, des- difficulties, then it will be launched by the Barcelona- ity measures threaten to lop perately.” difficult for our companies.”

Gaudy mix: art and industry Contributors Victor Mallet Madrid Bureau Chief Continued from Page 1 imaging research centre between business and uni- near Barcelona and versities and improvements Miles Johnson already squeezing budgets employs nearly 3,000 in and in education and skills. Madrid Correspondent at every level of Spain’s around the city – led for- Barcelona residents, from public administration. That eign multinationals three HP executives to young Edwin Heathcote FT Architecture & design in turn has raised questions years ago in establishing a software entrepreneurs, critic about whether new indus- foundation to support inno- agree that the city’s dyna- tries in particular depend vation, promote Spain and mism, its transport infra- Ángel Gurria­Quintana too much on official sup- lobby the government to structure, pleasant lifestyle FT Contributor port, and whether biotech heed the concerns of foreign and proximity to the rest of or computer software will businesses. the Europe make it a good Pascale Davies ever be able to provide as HP is a typical investor in place to do business – FT Contributor many jobs as construction the sense that it moved its although it is hampered Tom Griggs and heavy manufacturing manufacturing from Spain like the rest of Spain by the Commissioning Editor did in the past. to Asia a decade ago, but political rivalry between Joan Sureda, director- retained some high-value the centre and the autono- Steven Bird general of industry in the research and development mous regions and between Designer Catalan government and a and management activities the regions themselves. former executive of Pep- in Europe. Ms Prats of Iese says sev- Andy Mears siCo, accepts that labour- eral businesses are leaving Picture Editor intensive industries are vul- Let’s not Barcelona for Navarra, nerable but says he is deter- allow where taxes are lower, and For advertising, contact: mined to prevent disinvest- government she is not alone in com- Maria Gonzalez on ment by foreign companies. to decide too plaining of the “horrible” Tel +34 91 564 1810, “One of the big issues we much, says and costly mess of a multi- Fax +34 91 564 1255 or have will be not to lose a Julia Prats tiered administration of [email protected] single company in this nation, regions, provinces or your usual country, even if we know and municipalities. representative it’s impossible,” he says. “Sometimes you get the But the vital questions to Mr Sureda nevertheless impression that if you don’t which investors in Barce- All FT Reports are defends government sup- belong to the Ibex-35 list of lona need answers are available on FT.com. port for Catalonia’s export- companies, you don’t mat- these: Is public financing Go to: oriented businesses as a ter,” says Irma Jiménez, for innovative and creative www.ft.com/reports model that was shown to HP’s chief of governmental companies a substitute for Follow us on twitter at work in Germany and says affairs for Iberia and direc- vigorous private invest- www.twitter.com/ investment in innovation tor of Innovación España, ment? Can bureaucrats ft.reports has been rising steadily as a as the foundation is called. choose winners? And is the share of GDP. Ms Jiménez says that funding sustainable in an All editorial content in this Big companies, of course, Spain lags behind its Euro- age of austerity? supplement is produced are always happy to benefit pean peers in terms of pub- “I believe a bit in the by the FT. from government hand-outs lic investment in research cluster thing, but I’m a lit- Our advertisers have no or incentives, but they are and development. Mean- tle afraid when the govern- influence over, or prior also eager for good policies. while, foreign multination- ment decides,” says Ms sight of, the articles or Hewlett-Packard – the als are pushing for better Prats. “A bit of government online material technology company that tax and financial incen- is okay, but let’s not allow has its global printing and tives, stronger links them to decide too much.” FINANCIAL TIMES TUESDAY MARCH 22 2011 ★ 3 Barcelona: Innovative & Creative Business The goal is Lender weathers storm – one of a series of mergers will be placed not with La Caixa that has already reduced Caixabank but with the old the number of Spanish caja industrial holding group. Bank remains a groups from 45 to 17 – La Lastly, the bank will fur- success Caixa’s executives in the ther reinforce its capital by dominant financial black towers of group head- selling €1.5bn in compulso- power in the city, quarters on Barcelona’s rily convertible bonds to cli- says Victor Mallet Avinguda Diagonal began ents. last year to make plans for The result will be a bank without a listing of their banking with a core tier one capital operations. ratio of 10.9 per cent under La Caixa – or Caixa As a result, they were the current Basel II rules, one d’Estalvis i Pensions de first big savings bank to of the most robust ratios Barcelona (Barcelona sav- produce a detailed road among Spanish lenders. the debt ings and pensions bank), to map. In January this year, Bankers in Madrid say give it its full name – has they unveiled their project that Caixabank will be one long been the dominant for the listing of the bank, of the more attractive finan- June 2010. He has pledged financial power in the city to be called Caixabank and cial investments in what is Sport to slash the club’s debt and of Barcelona and the auton- with a book value calcu- set to become a crowded to build on its success to omous region of Catalonia, lated at €20.6bn ($28.7bn) – field, as Spanish cajas jostle Miles Johnson increase revenues through and a significant force in double the value mooted for for fresh capital. looks at the international marketing. Spanish retail banking. rival Bankia, the bank com- La Caixa is by no means After widespread criti- Formed in 1990 from a posed of Caja Madrid and the only financial institu- financial challenges cism of the financial man- merger of two savings six smaller savings banks. tion in Barcelona. Carlyle, of running the city’s agement of his predecessor, banks, one dating back to the private equity group, is Mr Rosell has outlined a 1904 and the other to 1844, Isidre Fainé also has its Iberian base in football team plan to improve revenues, La Caixa has weathered the began his the city, where it controls and pay down about €30m latest economic crisis in working life Applus, an acquisitive tech- f Barcelona is a city in debt by the end of the better shape than most of in a local nology company in the that thinks of itself as season without selling play- its Spanish peers and bicycle automotive, aerospace and doing things differ- ers. remains the embodiment of repair shop pharmaceuticals sectors. ently, its football club As part of the financial Catalan financial strength. Yet La Caixa – whose col- Iis no exception. restructuring Mr Rosell, a Yet even Isidre Fainé, the ourful logo comes from a For years, the current former Nike executive and famously canny La Caixa Both the new structure design by Catalan artist Spanish champions holder of an MBA from the chairman who began his and the process of building Joan Miró – remains the Big remained unique among Esade business school, has working life in a bicycle it are complex, some might Daddy of finance in Barce- Europe’s top teams by obsti- rebuilt the club’s board repair shop, was unable to say cunning. La Caixa lona and Catalonia, and the nately refusing to carry a around figures with both resist the increasingly stri- already has a listed entity – paymaster for many invest- commercial sponsor on managerial and interna- dent demands of interna- the industrial holding com- ments and innovations in their shirts. tional marketing skills. tional financial markets pany Criteria – and the Spanish finance. But while FC Barcelona’s Seven of the 15 seats are Nimble footwork: Leo Messi evades a tackle from Arsenal’s Abou Diaby Reuters and of the Spanish govern- Spanish and foreign bank- Hewlett-Packard – also brand of free flowing foot- occupied by holders of ment that unlisted savings ing operations will be gath- based in the Barcelona ball – known as tiki taka – MBAs and business degrees, price elasticity as, if you the president, meaning that in his favour is that the banks become more trans- ered under that umbrella as region – boasts of the three has helped it enjoy sus- while the appointment of increase the price, TV sta- Mr Rosell’s attempts to team is winning. parent, improve their corpo- Caixabank. big projects it has carried tained success on the pitch, Dídac Lee, a Catalan inter- tions will still pay. There is restructure the club’s “The sporting side of rate governance and rein- To strengthen Caixabank, out for La Caixa in recent with its team topping net entrepreneur of Chinese no alternative for broad- finances must be balanced managing a club is quite force their capital. furthermore, the bank will years: a “business control Spain’s La Liga, the club’s origin, was interpreted casters if they want to show with the feelings of the independent from the finan- Sensing the changing be endowed with stakes in centre” to manage opera- financial performance has partly as a reflection of the Barça matches,” says Kimio club’s fans, estimated to cial side,” says Mr Kase. investment climate in the Repsol, the energy group, tions in real time; a cus- been less glittering. club’s desire to bolster its Kase, professor of strategic number about 44m accord- “Supporters don’t care face of a moribund Spanish and in Telefónica, and will tomer loyalty project for After reporting an annual expertise in the key Asian management at the busi- ing to market research – about the financial state of property market, Mr Fainé therefore benefit from the merchants receiving pay- loss last year of €79.6m and market. ness school Iese. greater than Real Madrid their teams if they are win- and Juan María Nin, his latent capital gains of more ments by card; and a busi- net debt of about €400m, in The club’s earning capac- Barcelona’s world famous and more than six times the ning. But if you lose games, chief executive, moved with than €2bn in these two ness intelligence system to December Barça tore up its ity, which has seen it con- players, such as the Argen- population of Catalonia. they will kick you out, even characteristic decisiveness. holdings. integrate La Caixa’s own historical policy and signed sistently ranked second tine attacker Leo Messi, For now, one of the most if you are financially While absorbing the Meanwhile a “bad bank” data with information from a five and a half year, behind Real Madrid in have also helped it to important things working responsible.” much smaller Caixa Girona of repossessed properties other sources. €165m contract with the Deloitte’s annual football increase international shirt Qatari government – the money league, will be sales, with other clubs look- most lucrative shirt spon- helped by the increasingly ing upon its team of mostly sorship deal in football his- tight grip Spain’s two rich- homegrown stars with tory. Previously, it had est teams hold over domes- envy. filled the space with the All three finalists for the Unicef logo free of charge. 2010 Fifa Ballon d’Or – Xavi Like other clubs during Supporters don’t Hernández, Andrés Iniesta the credit boom Barcelona care about the and Messi – were not just burnt through its cash by all Barcelona players, but paying huge transfer fees. financial state of they had also been culti- This resulted in the club their teams vated in the clubs’ famed last year seeking a €150m youth academy. loan to help pay player and if they are winning Mr Kase says that staff wages and ushered in the Barcelona management a new period of austerity. faces different types of pres- Heavily indebted teams tic and international broad- sure from other sports busi- across Europe must also get casting revenues. nesses because of its owner- their houses in order ahead Last year, Barcelona gen- ship structure. Barça is one of Uefa, Europe’s football erated €178.1m from broad- of only four Spanish clubs governing body, introduc- casting, or 44 per cent of controlled by its members, ing new rules on how much the clubs’ total revenues or socios, alongside Real clubs can spend in relation and an annual rise of 12 per Madrid, Athletic Bilbao and to their income. cent. The club also signed a Osasuna. The Qatar deal is likely to renegotiated four year indi- “When you are privately see the 121-year old club’s vidual broadcast contract owned, or listed on the revenues stay above €400m with Mediapro, which holds stock market, this moti- this year, and give it the the television rights for vates you to make money chance to dethrone arch- Spanish first and second for your investors,” he says. rivals Real Madrid as the division football, under “While Real Madrid and highest grossing team in improved financial terms. Barcelona generate large the world. “Throughout the world, amounts of money, this is Instrumental in the move people are interested in not their main aim.” was the arrival of new club watching Barcelona games, Under the socio structure president Sandro Rosell in so there is a low level of Barcelona’s members elect

Graffiti Vandalism or oppressed street art?

Barcelona welcomes all kinds of art lovers. While tourists will queue for hours for the Picasso Museum or endure the scorching summer sun to glance at the marvels of Gaudí’s architecture, those on a limited budget can simply stroll through the back streets and stumble upon the delights of the city’s disorderly street art. As a temporary resident of the city, I have to push my way past the tourists taking photos of my own graffiti­stained door. But the artists who leave behind these spray­painted lyrics are generally dismissed as “taggers” who vandalise property and give street art a bad name. “I could do it myself,” is the dismissive judgment of Begoña Ochoa, a clothing store boss who is confronted with such graffiti every day. Yet there is a more serious side to Barcelona´s public art. El Pez’s distinctive signature The international success of the street artist, Banksy, has emboldened local artists It can be illegal for an artist to paint a to try to be even more aggressive than company’s shutters, even if commissioned those of contemporary London in both the by the company, and both face the risk of style and the quantity of work displayed hefty fines. across the city. For this reason “most of the public artists Among the Barcelona street artists is El avoid having a bank account,” says Robert Pez (The Fish), whose real name remains a Burt of the art gallery Base Elements. mystery. As the once­riotous colours on He is identifiable by his images of Barcelona’s streets are washed and scraped grinning fish, which have now evolved into away, only a few small galleries are keeping more varied range of smiling animals. Fuji alive the hope of preserving the city’s Sport hired El Pez to decorate their store bohemian­chic vibe, while many of the shutters – a typical commission for such larger and better­known galleries shy away artists. from exhibiting public art. Another well­known Barcelona­based artist Base Elements, now nine years old, is one is Andrea Michaelsson, who goes by the of the handful of galleries that will without name of BToy. embarrassment display the loud colours and She sprays layer upon delicate layer of dynamic shapes of public art across their paint to create fragile and whimsical bleached white walls. portraits, reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s Stubborn street artists – who once work, of celebrities such as Judy Garland. refused to stoop to exhibiting their work in It is a far cry from the boldness and galleries – now find they have little choice, aggression of much of the city’s other given the hostile reception in the streets. street art. Mr Burt says the gallery has found Then there is the politics. success in part because public art, Artists such as Uri and Zosen use their previously free, is now so commercial that illustrations to mock politicians from Barcelona families will buy its subversive Catalonia or further afield, with Uri images to be displayed awkwardly in their portraying European foreign ministers as living rooms. villains from a Disney movie. But if public art is no longer public, and if Sometimes the hostility is mutual. street art is no longer in the street, can it The authorities have begun strictly be worthy of the name? applying anti­graffiti laws, prompting criticism that the police are being deployed Pascale Davies to stifle Barcelona’s bohemian spirit. An image that took hours to create will The writer is a student currently based in typically be erased within 48 hours. Barcelona 4 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES TUESDAY MARCH 22 2011 Barcelona: Innovative & Creative Business

Investment per head in the six largest Spanish cities € Barcelona Sevilla City vibrant despite economic stagnation 600 Madrid València Màlaga Zaragoza 500 attractive destination for clusters. This is an emerg- Barcelona base is a New York and begun talk- the “home meal replace- Entrepreneurs talk investors and that some ing technology, a global disadvantage in so far as ing about the economy, no ment” business of which 400 sectors of the economy – business.” venture capital groups one would have noticed,” Quirze Salomó is executive Victor Mallet meets particularly in information Sensofar, which has a apply a valuation to the he says. chairman. Founded in 1998 some of the region’s technology and other serv- subsidiary in Tokyo, makes Spanish company that is Jonathan Hayes, co- and built on the family’s 300 ices – are still rich in oppor- 3D optical profilers, micro- “extremely discouraging founder and president of long involvement with the movers and shakers tunities, in spite of the scope-like devices that use compared with the valua- Dinube Mobile Payments, food industry in Catalonia 200 eurozone sovereign debt light to measure objects on tion of the company in the says his company did start and across Europe, Nos- crisis and the stagnation of a nanoscale – essential, for US”, but also an advantage in the US – as a spin-off trum now operates 44 100 It was a quintessential Bar- the overall Spanish econ- example, in the semicon- because EyeOS is excep- from work done at the Mas- Mediterranean ready-meal celona breakfast: a group of omy. ductor and medical equip- tional in Spain. sachusetts Institute of Tech- stores around Barcelona 0 enthusiastic entrepreneurs What remained unre- ment industries. He adds that he would nology Media Lab, where and is planning to expand 1988 90 952000 05 10 11 – some Catalan, some for- solved was the level of Pau Garcia-Milà, director- never move the company’s the concept was developed. to Madrid, Valencia and Sources: Barcelona municipality, Spanish finance ministry, Institute of Fiscal Studies and eign, some young, some not- financial support that gov- general of EyeOS, is manu- The beta version of France. municipal budgets (except Seville) so-young – gathered around ernments – national, facturing software, not hard- Dinube’s website says it “One of the goals we have a table of pastries, fruit regional and municipal – ware, and says the growing Being in a high­tech pulls together loyalty and is a very tight supply chain. food offerings on Spanish that Barcelona’s combina- juice and coffee to discuss should or could provide to company of 30 employees, sector in Spain payment accounts to allow We are running a very good high streets. tion of skills and hard work, the future of their busi- fledgling businesses in an with a presence in 65 coun- a transaction to be done IT system,” says Mr Ms Teesdale says the pro- a convenient geographic nesses and the pros and era of fiscal austerity. tries, constitutes the biggest makes you a big simply from any mobile Salomó. “And with an fessional language training location and openness to cons of being based in one Ferran Laguarta, chief open-source project devel- fish in a relatively phone. Dinube says that it iPhone or Android system market is changing fast with investment and innovation of Europe’s most energetic executive of Sensofar and oped from Spain. is building a payments you’ll be able to ask for the arrival of online train- makes it an attractive base – and cultured cities. corporate development The model is to sell serv- small pond “ecosystem” and that in your lunch from the shop ing, and she sees the model even if it can never hope to Edward Hugh – a Cata- director of the Catalonia ices that allow users to future such operations may and pay – and won’t wait in diverging: at the lower end match the sheer volume of lan-speaking Briton who Polytechnic University’s access what they need from also be achieved using the queue. I know that in of the market there will be enterprises and venture- has become a leading Euro- centre for sensors, instru- the “cloud” through their headquarters, although of “near-field communication” New York some people are more “virtual classes”, capital funds that enrich pean economic commenta- ments and systems develop- web browser – essentially a course offices will have to with special microchips in doing the same.” including by mobile tele- California’s Silicon Valley, tor on Facebook – organised ment, finds it important portable desktop and appli- be opened elsewhere. smartphones. At this point Mr Garcia- phone; and at the top end, and even if some areas the meeting for the FT at that Catalonia encourages cations that you can access In short, being in a high- Barcelona is also home Milà intervenes to report the continuation of tradi- depend too heavily on the Gild club, a venue for clusters of companies such from anywhere. tech sector in Spain makes to service businesses that that he catered his com- tional one-on-one training public-sector support. business people in Barce- as those focused on illumi- The company has closed a you a big fish in a relatively are more traditional and pany’s end-of-year dinner for senior executives. The crucial factors for lona that is itself an entre- nation and on optical engi- deal with IBM as well as small pond, whereas Cali- perhaps less risky, although using Nostrum food. Kate The crisis and the result- Barcelona and Catalonia, preneurial start-up founded neering. with Spanish groups such fornia is an ocean of high- even these typically make Teesdale of Essor, a lan- ing budget cuts have put says Salvador Garcia, a by Karen Reith, Jonathan “This is the same situa- as Telefónica and benefits tech enterprise and financ- the most of new technology guage training company, pressure on the prices that banker and former film Goodman and Jacqueline tion as in Singapore or the from official soft loans as ing. that allows them to cut begs Nostrum’s boss to companies such as Essor entrepreneur, are its “entre- Doherty. Netherlands,” he says. well as the reinvestment of Mr Hugh, the economist, costs or attract new custom- offer good sandwiches as can charge their customers. preneurial spirit” and “a The discussion was proof “These countries have its own profits. says the same is true of his ers. well as prepared meals to Everyone at the breakfast kind of innovation atmos- that Barcelona remains an optronics and photonics Mr Garcia-Milà says the profession. “If I’d started in One of these is Nostrum, fill a gaping hole in the fast- nevertheless seems to agree phere”. Spanish taste Conferences provide €2.5bn boost to city for premium model is not usually found [for confer- Trade fairs ence centres] in other countries,” he says. “We have public shareholders, Private management helps the city hall and the government, but city­owned Fira cope with we are managed by representatives of gin gives duo business. There are no politicians in tough economic times, our business model.” says Miles Johnson However, Fira will have to compete against rivals from Milan, Munich and Paris to secure the Mobile World Con- a profit tonic In February, almost 60,000 people fil- gress from 2013 to 2017, having previ- tered past the 50 metre high Venetian ously snatched it from Cannes. towers leading into Barcelona’s Plaça As well as liaising with Barcelona’s have always been the entry gate for Espanya to attend the Mobile World hotels and leisure industries to plan Alcohol foreign products in Spain.” Congress. The three-day conference is for the thousands who attend, Fira is Fever-Tree’s marketing pitch is that regarded by the telecoms industry as also required to work closely with High­quality mixers go there is no point drinking an expen- an annual pilgrimage and the keynote other parts of the city’s infrastructure down well with consumers sive, delicately flavoured gin if you speeches from Google’s Eric Schmidt to run its events effectively. are going to smother it with an indif- and Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer were For the ITMA textile and garment of tasty tipples, as market ferent tonic. broadcast live to technology fanatics machinery exhibition, to be held this grows, says Victor Mallet The idea seems to have caught on, around the globe. September and expected to attract and the company has branched out Away from the exhibition centre, it 100,000 people, Fira has had to work into other mixers, including Lemon is also an event worth millions of closely with the Barcelona port Tonic (Bitter Lemon is the subtitle, euros to the economy of the city that authorities to arrange for machinery sk for a gin and tonic in but that term was seen as old-fash- hosts it. Local hotels are block- to be shipped in from Asia that can- Spain, and the barman invar- ioned by young consumers), Ginger booked, plazas are filled with dele- not be transported by air. iably asks you what sort of Ale, Lemonade and Ginger Beer. gates, and it becomes a complicated Mr Cordón Barrenechea argues that gin – and gives you a wide It sources and blends high-quality, affair to locate a restaurant table in the varying industries and geographi- Achoice. natural ingredients – including qui- central Barcelona. cal regions represented in Fira’s fairs On a March evening in Barcelona’s nine produced by a German family on The Mobile Congress, and 80 other Bar San Telmo, Charles Rolls and the Congo-Rwanda border and fresh trade fairs representing industries According to a Marc Calabuig are comparing a Hen- green ginger from the Ivory Coast – from textiles to food, are all held at study conducted drick’s gin flavoured with cucumber for its bottling plant at Shepton Mal- the city’s main exhibition centre, Fira by Iese, the and a Whitley Neill (“with nine botan- let in Somerset, England. Charles Rolls: ‘People are drinking less but . . . better quality’ Victor Mallet Barcelona, housed off the Plaça Barcelona­based icals, inspired by Africa, made in Eng- For its Indian tonic, the launch Espanya. According to a study con- business school, land”) from which protrudes a twig of product, the company says the qui- are drinking better quality and we are it was exported from South America ducted by Iese, the Barcelona-based the events held at liquorice. It may seem counter-intui- nine was “blended with spring water doing nothing more than following by Spanish colonists. business school, the events held at Fira generate tive in the midst of an economic cri- and eight botanical flavours, includ- the trend,” he says. The cinchona or quinine tree – the Fira generate €2.5bn a year for the €2.5bn a year sis, but the premium gin market has ing rare ingredients such as marigold With Spain accounting for nearly a fever-tree of the mixer brand – was city, of which almost 40 per cent been growing rapidly in Spain. extracts and a bitter orange from Tan- third of sales – the same as the US, named after the countess Ana del comes from the amount spent by visi- Mr Rolls and Mr Calabuig are riding zania”. That is the kind of recipe and slightly less than the UK – and Chinchón, wife of the viceroy to Peru tors and exhibitors during their stay. are an indicator of the changing state the wave, supplying the country’s pre- designed to appeal to premium drink- with the premium gin market contin- who was reputedly cured of malaria “We use the brand of Barcelona, of the global economy: “We saw the mium gin drinkers with premium mix- ers, and it costs twice as much as uing to expand, Mr Rolls has rented by the product in the 17th century. which is very strong,” says Agustín mix of the countries change, depend- ers to match from Fever-Tree, the UK ordinary tonic. an apartment in Barcelona and is There is no connection with the Afri- Cordón Barrenechea, Fira’s chief exec- ing on the economic performance of company founded six years ago by Mr Mr Rolls, who made his name run- planning further growth on the Ibe- can fever tree, so called because it utive. “Much of the money we gener- each country,” he says. Rolls and his partner Tim Warrillow. rian Peninsula, from Lisbon to hotels grows near water and is therefore ate is made by our direct activities, “For example, we had a record this Fever-Tree – with the UK and the in the Balearic Islands. found in malarial areas. but also what our events generate for year at the Mobile World Congress for US as its other big markets so far – That is the kind of recipe Mr Rolls compares the “traditional Mr Rolls continues to explore the businesses in the city.” people coming from Asia, while we had a serendipitous entry to Spain designed to appeal to hard work” of marketing the product Spanish market from Barcelona and Fira traces its origins back to the have fewer visitors coming from the when the artist Richard Hamilton in the competitive British and North to study Spanish drinking habits. universal exhibition held in the city US. Internationally focused events brought some of its Indian tonic water premium drinkers and it American markets with the good for- “It’s time for us to seize the in 1888 – said to have featured a two- have remained strong, but more local from Waitrose, the UK supermarket, costs twice as much as tune of Fever-Tree’s arrival in Spain moment. I spend time in Madrid, Ali- metre sculpture of a castle carved out events have suffered, as the Spanish and introduced it to Ferran Adrià, the at the end of 2006. cante, Malaga, San Sebastián and I of Manchego cheese, and seen by market has obviously been hurt by renowned chef at the El Bulli restau- ordinary tonic “Over here, we had the stars aligned. start to get a feeling for what’s really some academics as an important influ- the crisis.” rant near Roses, two hours north of We landed with just the right product happening,” he says, acknowledging ence on the Catalan architectural The result has been that Fira’s busi- Barcelona. at just the right time,” he says. “And it the risk that the premium gin craze modernism made famous by Gaudí. ness, while rooted in Barcelona, has Mr Adrià does not merely serve the ning Plymouth Gin, says Fever-Tree’s was Ferran Adrià who helped us find will fade as quickly as it arrived. “We Fira was officially designated by the become more international, with exhi- tonic with his gins. He even made a sales rose from £4.3m in 2009 to £6.7m Marc.” Officially, the premium gin have not finished. We’ve had a fantas- government as a trade show centre in bitions, such as its Alimentaria food soup out of it, and suggested Mr last year, and continue to accelerate. market in Spain has been growing at tic start but there’s still a lot to do.” 1932, and went on to hold the first show, travelling to Latin America in Calabuig of International Cooking “We’re growing faster than we grew 18 per cent a year, but the real growth Among the surprises for newcomers demonstration of television in Spain recent years: “When the demand for Concepts as a distributor. last year. We’re 87 per cent up on last in consumption of brands such as Hen- to Spain is the discovery that Span- in July 1936 before being shut down our exhibitors is not ready in Europe, “The connection is with the chefs. year in the first two months in terms drick’s is “a lot faster”. iards usually drink gin and tonic after throughout the Spanish Civil War. we are taking our exhibitors to events We started with the restaurants and of sales,” he says. “We haven’t even Spain even has a historical connec- dinner as a digestif, not before a meal Mr Cordón Barrenechea is particu- in local markets,” he says. “This is then we moved into the bars and then touched places such as South America tion with quinine, the crucial ingredi- like the English. “It’s very refresh- larly proud of Fira’s ability to operate something we have seen during these into supermarkets,” says Mr Calabuig. yet. ent for tonic originally known as “Jes- ing,” says Mr Rolls. “It’s sort of like like a private-sector company despite times. Fairs are very efficient ways of “Catalonia and therefore Barcelona “People are drinking less, but they uit’s powder” or “Jesuit’s bark” when having a sorbet.” being city-owned: “Our business helping companies internationalise.” FINANCIAL TIMES TUESDAY MARCH 22 2011 ★ 5 Barcelona: Innovative & Creative Business A literary hub built on rich history and skills

Delicate book ecosystem: people Publishing browse on the Ramblas on Saint Ángel Gurria­Quintana George’s day when women traditionally give men a book as a gift Getty examines the city’s role as a publishing centre looks to the future with trepidation. Paula Canal, Anagrama’s fiction editor, says the balance of Spain’s n 1860, a former labourer from “delicate book ecosystem” has so far the Catalan provinces founded a depended on diversity among book- publishing company in Barce- sellers and independent publishers, lona. José Espasa, who had and on fixed prices. Iworked demolishing the old city The system is now under pressure. walls, would go on to print Spain’s The entrance of Amazon, the online first encyclopedia. “From building to retailer, into the Spanish market later publishing: that has been the city’s this year is likely to transform the natural impulse,” says the former landscape and put small publishers mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos. and booksellers out of business. The Today, Barcelona is widely acknowl- sale of e-books remains minimal, but edged as Spain’s publishing hub. More concerns are growing about the effect than a hundred Spanish- and Catalan- of piracy, as digital platforms become language publishers huddle together more common. in a city of 1.6m inhabitants, working Josep Lluis Monreal, founder and closely with a rich pool of authors, president of Planeta, Spain’s largest translators, agents, designers, illustra- publishing group, seems undaunted. tors and booksellers. The rise of new technologies, he says, Spain’s publishing industry – the “confirms to me the good health of third largest in Europe after the books and the excellent health of the United Kingdom and Germany – pro- publishing sector.” Publishers, he duces some 80,000 books a year. Barce- believes, are simply creators of con- lona accounts for 53 per cent of the tent: “Should we worry, then, about output, while Madrid is responsible being offered the chance to present for 37 per cent. “Barcelona’s cultural the publishers that Barcelona-based There also exists a tradition of peo- Grande” to her clients, and publisher of power eats away at people’s souls.” those contents through new platforms identity is inexplicable without its fiction editor Anne Vial describes as ple passing through Barcelona on Carlos Barral, who in 1962 awarded The unique cohabitation of Catalan- and transmit them through new chan- rich publishing sector,” says Ferran “smart, inventive, resourceful, and their way to and from the Americas. the Biblioteca Breve literary prize to a and Spanish-language publishing, an nels? We ought to worry, instead, Mascarell, Catalonia’s Minister for looking for new ways in publishing”. In the 1960s, this link led to the emer- then unknown Vargas Llosa. occasional source of friction, is now about being short-sighted and missing Culture. These newcomers are part of a tra- gence of the Latin American “boom” The award, says Vásquez, Barral, commonly regarded as a boon to all our train to the future.” While Madrid remains the main pro- dition that can be traced as far back generation that included Colombia’s “started a movement that took Latin sides: “The more recalcitrant anti- In a recent essay Enrique Vila- ducer of text and reference books, as the 17th century. Local publishers Gabriel García Márquez and Peru’s American literature out of Latin Spanish language sentiments are Matas wrote: “Guessing the future of Barcelona is the leading centre for like quoting from Miguel de Cervan- Mario Vargas Llosa, who spent many America and put it at the centre of receding,” says Valerie Miles, co- books in the face of an alleged digital fiction, design-oriented publications tes’ Don Quixote, in which the epony- years in Barcelona. 20th century western culture”. Other founder of the Spanish edition of threat is like speculating about how and comic books. Spain’s two largest mous hero visits a publisher in Barce- It was, says Colombian novelist and publishers, notably Anagrama and Granta magazine and publishing well your favourite team will do on publishing conglomerates – Planeta lona who is printing an apocryphal Barcelona resident Juan Gabriel Tusquets, “allowed a breath of fresh director of Duomo Ediciones. “It’s Sunday.” But in his latest novel, Dub- and Random House Mondadori – have version of Don Quixote; they discuss Vásquez, “a place where Latin Ameri- air into Franco’s stuffy Spain”. obvious that if the Spanish language linesca, he is less flippant. Its protago- their headquarters in Barcelona. They the merits of publishing works in can literature was well received and According to Enrique Vila-Matas, a publishers leave Barcelona, the city nist is an independent Barcelona- share the market with well estab- translation. well read, and which at the time was local writer, the city, as a haunt for would lose a vibrant element in its based literary publisher on the brink lished independents created in the The city’s editorial tradition has much more open, more cosmopolitan exiled writers, has become “a succes- cultural tapestry.” of selling his business to a foreign 1960s and 70s, such as Spanish- much to do with what Jorge Herralde, than Madrid.” sor to Paris”. The Spanish publishing industry conglomerate. “Sometimes,” Vila- language publisher Tusquets or bilin- founder of publisher Anagrama, calls Two names commonly associated “Barcelona is an ideal city for writ- has continued to report modest Matas writes, “he likes to think of gual Acantilado/Quaderns Crema. “porosity”. Closer to the French bor- with the international emergence of ing,” he says. “No one will distract growth even amid the recent interna- himself as the last publisher.” A new generation is adding to the der than to Madrid, Barcelona has Latin America’s best-known authors you here if what you want to do is tional downturn. But, as in all edito- Barcelona’s book people are surely mix: Duomo, Blackie Books and always felt “more free, more Euro- are Carmen Balcells, the formidable write. And it lacks the oppression rial centres around the world, Barce- hoping that this is not a taste of Libros del Asteroide are just a few of pean” than the rest of the country. literary agent known as “la Mama of capital cities, where the presence lona’s publishing community now things to come. Local textile tradition has gone global

one item made by Desigual tant companies here,” she Fashion retailing – which means “unequal”, says. “We have Mango, or “not the same” in Span- Desigual and others all Desigual is the ish. here.” latest brand to The success of Desigual, Ms Rilaño, who began which is fully owned by the building Modaes after a emerge from the two partners and now career as a business jour- city’s streets, writes employs 3,000 across 30 nalist at Expansión, the countries, is the latest in a Spanish newspaper, says Miles Johnson line of Barcelona-based that the smaller, more flexi- fashion retailers that have ble operational structure of conquered vast swathes of a website enables her to be Manel Adell and Thomas the globe after opening more creative with business Meyer got to know each their first store in the Cata- ideas than Spain’s tradi- other sailing across the lan capital. tional media, the bulk of Atlantic Ocean in a mutual These heirs to Catalonia’s which is based in Madrid. friend’s boat 19 years ago, once vast industrial textiles Modaes was launched in as they took turns at the industry, which for centu- 2009 with a total investment wheel. ries provided material for of €40,000 by its five part- It was 1992, the year that western Europe before los- ners, including Ms Rilaño, Barcelona thrust itself into ing the business to the and has received further the centre of the world’s lower cost factories abroad, investment from private attention by hosting the investors as the site’s read- Olympic Games. It was also ership has grown. She is a crucial year for Mr Meyer, Distance from now starting to use the site a Swiss fashion designer financial centres to allow companies to living in Barcelona, as his advertise jobs for designers, fortunes started to improve. makes it easier to and to organise industry Four years earlier, Desi- concentrate on events and research. gual, his small fashion com- “If you have a newspaper pany, had been on the brink simple business with 100 people working of bankruptcy. there, you don’t have the But the chance meeting models time to try new things,” she between the pair on that says. “If you are a young ocean voyage was the spark have used Barcelona’s business, you can do that.” that later helped transform vibrant streets and rich Desigual’s Mr Adell says Mr Meyer’s fledgling fash- history of design to con- that because Barcelona is ion house into one of tinue to attract young tal- far away from the financial Spain’s largest independent ent to the city, and to set centres of Madrid, and Lon- retailers, boasting shops global trends. don, entrepreneurs can find from Thailand to New York. Mango, which opened its it easier to concentrate on “I want our brand to be first shop on Barcelona’s simple business models, like Madonna,” says Mr upmarket shopping street and organic growth. Adell, who left a job at Passeig de Gràcia in 1984, The fashion group, which Bang & Olufsen 10 years now has more than 1,300 inevitably finds itself after the Atlantic trip to shops in 100 countries, with courted by investment become a consultant at turnover in 2009 hitting bankers keen to list it on Desigual, eventually becom- €1.5bn. And, although the stock market, and pri- ing its chief executive. founded in Gali- vate equity groups eager to “We want to be a big cia, Inditex buy into its growth, has no name that can reinvent and n a t u r a l l y net debt. For Mr Adell, refresh itself without ever picked Barce- Desigual’s Barcelona mind- losing its soul,” he adds. lona as the set has been integral to the Sitting in a glass room in location for culture of the company. the company’s open-plan one of its “The balance between Barcelona headquarters, f l a g s h i p the emotions and the where the walls are stores. practical has always adorned with haikus such For Pilar been good in Catalo- as “what a larvae calls the R i l a ñ o , nia. The City [of Lon- end of the world, a master director of don] is far away, so calls a butterfly”, Mr Adell the Barcelo- we have less of the says that he believes his n a - b a s e d financial mindset company can become as big f a s h i o n that can detach as Nike. news web- the numbers Desigual’s growth since s i t e from the busi- Mr Adell and Mr Meyer Modaes, Bar- ness,” he joined forces in 2002 has celona’s con- says. indeed been rapid. The com- centration of “The cul- pany’s turnover, which large and ture of our clocked in at €8m in 2002, small fashion company has hit €435m in 2010. c o m p a n i e s always been based Mr Adell expects this to makes it an on being original, rise to €600m this year – international on differentiation. representing a faster rate of hub for the “I wouldn’t say growth than was achieved i n d u s t r y , we are anti-es- at the same point in its his- a l l o w i n g tablishment, tory by Spain’s Inditex, connected but we are defi- owner of the Zara brand businesses nitely against and the world’s biggest such as her being main- clothing retailer by sales. own quickly to stream.” The next step, he says, attract a follow- with barely a pause for ing. breath, is to open stores in “Barcelona is a Brazil, and other developing city with a lot of Desigual’s markets, and to aim to have creativity and culture is every wardrobe in the industry, and there based on world containing at least are lots of impor- originality 6 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES TUESDAY MARCH 22 2011 Barcelona: Innovative & Creative Business

Ferran Adrià: ‘before the system gets Interview tired of you, it’s better to invent a new Ferran Adrià system’ Victor Mallet Victor Mallet talks to the once-secretive profession and does not claim that chefs are more innovative chef whose important than, say, people who cure world famous El Bulli cancer. What he is serious about is creativity, whether artistic or restaurant shuts in July scientific, and if possible not doing the same thing twice – or innovation, as it is known in the Ferran Adrià knows how to keep business world. gourmets guessing. “In my case, creativity isn’t work; The chef and co-owner of El Bulli, it forms part of my life,” he says, as the modest-looking restaurant in a photographer shows him the latest northern Catalonia that has been image of one of his culinary repeatedly judged the world’s best creations for a forthcoming book. place to dine, could have extended “My language, my way of expressing his franchise around the globe as myself, is cooking. other chefs have done and opened El “In 1984, when I arrived here, the Bullis in London, New York and words creativity and innovation were Tokyo and elsewhere. almost prohibited in kitchens, not Instead – in an announcement that just in Spain but around the world. shocked the thousands who strive Nouvelle cuisine, for example, was each year to secure a reservation at creative but cooking wasn’t the 15-table, 50-seat restaurant – Mr categorised as something that could Adrià declared in January last year be a creative discipline. Absurd, but that he was closing it for guests that’s the way it was. People saw it from the end of July this year and as something that didn’t deserve the turning it into a kind of creative word creative.” research laboratory. Mr Adrià says his cooking – which This was typical of the restless Mr is sometimes criticised by more Adrià and his partner Juli Soler. conventional chefs such as the late They are innovative and creative not Santi Santamaría, also a Catalan, as just in the kitchen but in the way pretentious and over-engineered – is they choose to run the business and influenced by his “feeling” for the educational activities Catalonia, but also by the 100 days increasingly attached to it. he has spent travelling in Japan. Rather like one of his famous It is 6pm, and in a few hours El foams – they included scrambled egg Bulli will be packed with diners foam, and raspberry foam served eager to taste its newest creations. with Szechuan pepper ice-cream – Mr The cost is high but not extreme – Adrià and those around him are Reinventing the gourmet about €250 per person if you include always bubbling with ideas. They wine – and the owners have have championed the application of succumbed to the lure of some scientific methods to cooking, both also give classes in creativity. foundation. I’m going to fulfil my the research and development to be life. I’m not a multimillionaire. I corporate bookings at €115,000 a time through ElBullitaller (the creative But he makes it clear in an dream. I have the chance to do it. done at the foundation by the 30 or don’t have Ferraris or yachts. I have between May and July to help workshop) and by supporting interview at El Bulli, next to a quiet Dreams are not supposed to come so people who will attend is that a normal life. ensure financing for the foundation Catalonia’s Alicia (Alimentación y cove near Roses just south of the true, but in our case they do.” everything – successes, failures and “We’ll have interns, but not only for the first eight to 10 years. Ciencia) Foundation near the French border, that the most He makes a comparison with near-misses – will be shared with the young people – let’s say the head of “My work now is to raise money monastery at San Benet de Bages. important project of the moment is Barcelona, his favourite – and outside world. “Each day on the a hotel kitchen in Thailand, in for the foundation,” says Mr Adrià. Among the latest initiatives are the new foundation that will take generally victorious – football team. internet – that’s the revolution – Bangkok, he could be 50 years old. If But he has not forgotten the 41º and Tickets, a cocktail bar over El Bulli after it shuts its doors “I won for many years, but the we’ll publish everything we’ve done, his dream is to create and he has importance of accessibility. He goes and a tapas bar opened by Ferran as a restaurant in the summer. system doesn’t let you win all the like a digital newspaper. never been able to do it, he can take to the kitchen to taste the meal and his brother Albert in Barcelona, “I never said I was going to retire. time. The system could be tired of “It’s as if Norman Foster said a year’s sabbatical, and if he’s prepared for the staff – tomatoes and Ferran’s new role as a teacher Every five or six years, we’ve Ferran Adrià and El Bulli, so before tomorrow he was going to close his talented, he can come.” with basil, paella with crabs and flan at Harvard University, where transformed ourselves,” he says. “We the system gets tired of you, it’s studio, set up a foundation there, Mr Adrià is not exactly modest, (crème caramel) – one of a series he says he will talk not only are rebuilding our whole corporate better to invent a new system.” continue creating and share but he says chefs are not rock stars, that will double up as a new book of about the science of cooking but structure. Now the apex is the For Mr Adrià, a crucial aspect of everything. I’ve had lots of luck in dislikes the egocentric traditions of a family meals. The cost per head: €3. A well constructed city by design

forced the less wealthy and contemporary of London’s Architecture migrant communities out to Gherkin, its iridescent the edges, central Barcelona sheath makes it the more Gaudí is not the continues to house a rich elegant of the two. Yet only reason for social mix. more organic is the big, red Even the gothic quarter rubber welly of a tower by the city’s renown, at its heart remains a tradi- Toyo Ito in the Plaza writes Edwin tional Mediterranean barrio Europa. – noisy, teeming and Architects of the Beijing Heathcote vibrant. Unlike many medi- Bird’s Nest stadium and eval city centres, it has not London’s Tate Modern, Her- been allowed to become a zog & De Meuron, built the More than any other city, heritage tourist ghetto. vast, dark Barcelona Forum Barcelona is a paradigm of If Barcelona has remained by the waterfront and Brit- designed urbanity – an one of the world’s most liva- ain’s David Chipperfield admired exemplar of how a ble and best designed cities, built the huge City of Jus- city can reinvent itself as a it is not by accident. tice in L’Hospitalet de Llo- desirable destination. Mayors, architects and bregat – both structures are The question of how it urbanists have shown what ambitious but intimidating. has been done has been can be done. The socialist Most recently there is studied ad infinitum. Its municipality (notably under British architect’s Rogers genesis is usually attributed mayor Pasqual Maragall) Stirk Harbour and Partners’ to the fall of the Franco led the way in revitalising a revivification of the city’s regime and the subsequent tired city through its neigh- bull ring, Las Arenas, a revival of Catalan cultural bourhoods as well as mixed use scheme that identity combined with the through grand plans. In promises to revitalise a big city’s hosting of the 1992 concentrating on infrastruc- chunk of the city when it Olympic Games. ture – social and cultural as opens later this year. Since then, the awarding well as utilitarian – the These blockbuster struc- of the Games has been seen city’s fabric was revived. tures may suck up the as an opportunity for regen- attention, but it is the sub- eration and redesign, with tler public buildings that decidedly mixed results: At its heart, the have made Barcelona such Athens and Beijing com- city remains a an exemplar of urbanism. pletely failed to capitalise In recent years Josep on their Olympics infra- traditional Llinás’s Jaume Fuster structure and emergence Mediterranean Library with its complex from a repressive regime and generous canopy and has hardly made Moscow or barrio the fragmented literal cur- Sofia design capitals. tain wall enveloping the Neither of these factors is Sant Antoni district library enough, therefore, to A combination of new by Aranda Pigem reinter- explain the transformation. social housing, health and pret public space and archi- It is necessary to go further community centres, market tecture in wonderful ways. back to understand why the buildings and, perhaps most Then Enric Miralles city has proved such fertile importantly, public space and Benedetta Tagliabue’s ground for reinvention. has transformed the city. Santa Catarina Market with The city is best known for Of course there is the its wavy roof, a starburst of one architect – Antoni Ramblas, arguably the most Gaudí-esque colour, resur- Gaudí – the devout Catalan successful mixed-use boule- rected the spirit of the city’s whose surreal, undulating vard in any city anywhere, greatest architect while rev- works include La Pedrera, but there are dozens of elling in its culture of food. the Casa Battlo, the Parc other innovative examples. A stroll through any of Güell and the truly extraor- The Moll de la Fusta pro- the city’s big design stores, dinary Cathedral of the vides the broad, open, art- BD Barcelona or Vincon, Sagrada Familia – which is strewn waterfront to coun- set in wonderful modern- still under construction. terbalance the dense city- ismo palaces reveals the Gaudí’s works create sur- centre, as does the sophisti- depth of the city’s design real explosions of organic cated restructuring and culture – as do the fashion form and colour within an landscape of the Montjuic labels it exports from De ordered whole – which hilltop, whilst the Jardí del Sigual to Camper. makes them all the more Museu Can Framis has Architecture, design surprising. But it is the romantically envel- and public space architect of that ordered oped a piece of the are still seen both whole, Ildefons Cerdà, the old industrial as a form of town planner who con- city. political and ceived the extension of the Elsewhere, d e m o c r a t i c city beyond its Medieval “starchitects” expression and centre as a grand grid. have been are used to It was the scale of this attracted to differentiate grid that allowed to city to add to the the fiercely develop at a density that is city’s sky- independent the envy of cities around line. Catalan city. the world. F i r s t That political It has proved able to came Frank drive seems to accommodate a mix of uses Gehry’s huge have survived within a tightly-defined harbourside the reflection of urban area. It is this combi- fish sculp- the immediate nation of density and inten- ture, a fore- post-Franco era sity which has kept the city runner of the to create one of alive. Critically, the city Bilbao Guggen- the world’s few can accommodate a social heim. real design cities. mix at its centre. While the French archi- centres of London, Paris, tect Jean Nou- New York and now even vel’s Torre Agbar Gaudí: explosions Berlin have succumbed to also became an of organic form gentrification which has instant icon – a and colour