A new jewel for Catalan Modernism

Two master craftsmen in love with Catalan Modernism, the glassmaker Jorge Aragone, and the mosaic master Livia Garreta sign, together with the G4 group architecture studio, the homage that the Maison Cartier pays to the work of Gaudí in its renovated Barcelona boutique .

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
07 October 2022 Friday 11:58
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A new jewel for Catalan Modernism

Two master craftsmen in love with Catalan Modernism, the glassmaker Jorge Aragone, and the mosaic master Livia Garreta sign, together with the G4 group architecture studio, the homage that the Maison Cartier pays to the work of Gaudí in its renovated Barcelona boutique . There are 450 square meters on a single floor where the bicentennial brand that began its relationship with the city at the beginning of the 20th century (when Louis Cartier participated in the 1929 International Exhibition exhibiting a fascinating necklace made with Aga Khan diamonds) offers a luminous dialogue with Barcelona and its modernist legacy.

It does so through its glass facade and an interior with organic and geometric shapes animated by the varied color palette that floods the different stained glass windows and mosaics of the new spaces that house the iconic (and equally artistic) creations Love, Trinity, Juste un Clou, Santos de Cartier, Ballon Bleu de Cartier, Tank or Panthère de Cartier.

The fine jewelry firm, which opened its first store in Barcelona in 1996 (and moved to its current location at 82 Passeig de Gràcia in 2014), invested an entire year to renovate this boutique, during which it was installed precisely in one of the most emblematic Gaudí buildings, Casa Batlló.

That is where much of the inspiration for this jewel with modernist airs came from, which, in the words of Nicolas Helly, director of Cartier Iberia, shows that "for Maison Cartier, Barcelona has always been a benchmark at an artistic and cultural level and that is why we want pay him a warm tribute in this boutique.” That is why they did not hesitate to contact Jorge Aragone, the glazier, the craftsman dedicated to the restoration and conservation of the work of the greatest representatives of Catalan Modernism, including Gaudí, Domenech i Montaner and Pug i Cadafalch.

It was not an unexpected challenge for him since throughout his forty years on the job he has carried out important restorations at Casa Batlló itself, at the Hospital de Sant Pau and Casa Lleó Morera, but he has also collaborated, as on this occasion for Cartier , with architects and interior designers, with their own designs. His works, which he makes and sells in his Barcelona workshop, have become collector's items, especially in San Francisco, Hannover and Paris.

The spacious and bright interior garden of the new Cartier boutique is crowned by a stained glass window of his, while also signing the unique stained glass windows at the entrance of the boutique inspired by a high jewelry brooch created by Louis Cartier at the beginning of the 20th century.

And the same happens with Livia Garreta, mosaic master craftswoman since 2004, recognized both for her reproductions and new works, as well as for her mosaic restorations. In the crypt of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, ​​he carried out in 2007 the partial restoration of the mural mosaics originally executed by the Italian mosaicist Mario Maragaliano with the Roman mosaic technique "tessellatum" and in 2009 he carried out the mosaic panel of the Museum of Catalan Modernism from Barcelona, ​​with trencadís, “tessellatum” and “opus sectile”.

But this master craftswoman, who from her Catalan workshop also reproduced mosaics for the façade of the Casa Lleó i Morera in Barcelona in 2012 (for which prior documentary and photographic archive research was necessary) has her own work and projects. Knowing more than anyone about all the mosaic techniques, in the new Cartier boutique she signs the parquet floor, which has used different materials and traditional techniques such as glass and trencadís. All in order to "illuminate the boutique, with different shades of stones flanked with shades of gold arranged in undulating shapes that refer to the fluidity of the sea," she explains.

Cartier's iconic panther contemplates the contrasts of the city of Barcelona from the undulating benches of Park Güell in a surreal scene that, he warns, "reminds us of Dalí's immortal work through a bas-relief that dominates one of the main rooms of the boutique".

With this staging, the new boutique will maintain a constant dialogue with the city of Barcelona, ​​its citizens and visitors, who upon arrival can discover the wide open space that houses the Maison's jewellery, watch and accessory collections.