The events celebrating the Museum’s 70th anniversary close with the opening of a retail space devoted to leather neo-craftsmanship

The Museu de la Pell d’Igualada has brought the events celebrating its 70th anniversary to a close with resounding success. On Sunday 1 December, a thousand people took part in the activities organised to commemorate this milestone.

Those attending enjoyed a day full of activities, including family workshops in which the youngest visitors were able to make their own Christmas decorations out of leather. In the Christmas leather workshop, families were able to decorate their Christmas tree with one of three models of pieces designed by leather artisans: the Christmas tree by Sandra Quílez of Nquart Leather, the Three Wise Men by Eva Garcia of Evegé Leather and the Star of the East by Mar Ribaudí. The leather used in the workshop was donated by Leather Cluster Barcelona.

The event was accompanied by a big party in the museum courtyard, where the giants Tonet and Conxita, joined by the little giants Pia and Tomeu and the carter Rufus, blew out the candles on the anniversary cake to the rhythm of the Grallers d’Igualada.

One of the most eagerly awaited moments was the opening of the Museum’s new shop, located in the foyer of the Cal Boyer building, a space designed by the Igualada studio Evvo Retail. This retail space is devoted to neo-craftsmanship and displays products by local artisans and brands such as Evegé Leather, Leather Hug Belts, Nona BCN, Nquart Leather, Nubuck Cuir Leather Bags and the Museu Molí Paperer de Capellades. The museum’s aim is to give visibility to leather craft designs and creations, supporting the sector and progressively bringing in new brands. Thanks to the work of Piquéstudio, which decorated the shop as though it were a great gift, the artisans, the authorities and the museum’s management were the ones to unveil it.

Giving visibility to leather designers, artisans and fashion brands is an objective that Leather Cluster Barcelona fully shares and is implementing in various projects such as La Pell del Rec, a space at Adoberia Bella during REC.0 where cluster members have been able to exhibit and sell their articles at the most important fashion festival in Catalonia.

To round off this new project, the shop has an exhibition space called “La Llançadora”, in homage to the key tool of the looms and to the history of the Museum building, which had been a 19th-century textile factory. This space makes it possible to display leather pieces that stand out for their technique, exclusivity or use and aims to establish itself as a platform for cultural and creative outreach. The Consuelo Bag, created by the Igualada designer Mar Ribaudí, was the piece selected for the first launch.

With these initiatives, the Museu de la Pell d’Igualada reaffirms its commitment to tradition and innovation, promoting local craftsmanship and establishing itself as a cultural benchmark in the city.

Throughout all these 70 years there has been close collaboration between the Museum and the leather sector, first with the Gremi de Blanquers d’Igualada and later with Leather Cluster Barcelona.

In this respect, the Museu de la Pell d’Igualada and Leather Cluster Barcelona have stepped up their cluster-based cooperation with a range of activities. The museum, as the cluster’s benchmark member in culture and history, is an important ambassador and a key player in providing information and generating a positive current of opinion about the leather sector among the public.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is a competitive cooperation environment for promoting cross-cutting, transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving forward the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an accredited body within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.