Creativity, Innovation and Sustainability at the service of the Leather Industry

Last Friday 21 February saw the opening of XtremKuir Week 2025, a well-established initiative of the La Gaspar Municipal School of Art and Design in Igualada, which this year focuses on sustainability, innovation and research and development (R&D) in the leather and leather goods sector. The event was attended by institutional and business representatives such as councillor Patricia Illa, Juan Gallardo, Technical Manager of Maison Louis Vuitton, Jordi Vidal, Executive Director of Leather Cluster Barcelona, and Xavier Badia, owner of Curtits Badia, vice-president of the leather cluster and president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce in the Anoia.

Raquel Camacho, director of La Gaspar, in her opening speech highlighted the importance of XtremKuir Week as a space for innovation, creativity and intensive learning. She praised the participation of students from the intermediate diploma courses in Leather Accessories Craftsmanship and in Printed Graphic Product Assistance, as well as those from the higher diplomas in Advertising Graphics, Audiovisual Graphics and Leather Techniques, who will work in multidisciplinary teams to develop real projects with a vocational focus. She also stressed the school's commitment to linking business and training, preparing students with the skills they need for their future entry into the labour market.

The councillor for Sport and Vocational Training, Patricia Illa, highlighted in her speech the outstanding work of La Gaspar's teaching staff, who know how to bring out the best in students and who, as well as being teachers, are professionals in the sector. This reinforces the school's vocational character, ensuring training aligned with the needs of the labour market and the creative industry.

One of the highlights of this edition is the reuse of finished leather offcuts, a project that La Gaspar is developing jointly with Louis Vuitton and Leather Cluster Barcelona (LCB). This project falls within the principles of the circular economy and shared value led by LCB, with the aim of giving a second life to the leather offcuts generated by the leather goods industry. Students will work on creating innovative new products, exploring new applications and processes that make it possible to transform these materials into designs with added value.

During the event, Juan Gallardo, Technical Manager of Maison Louis Vuitton, highlighted the company's firm commitment to sustainability and circular creativity. He set out the firm's objectives for 2025 and 2030, focused on preserving natural resources and reducing its carbon footprint. Among the key initiatives, he mentioned the implementation of 100% renewable energy at its production centres, the elimination of single-use plastics in packaging and the use of environmentally certified or recycled raw materials. Gallardo also praised the collaboration with La Gaspar and Leather Cluster Barcelona within the XtremKuir Week project, encouraging students to take on the challenge of transforming surplus leather into new products with an eco-design and circular economy approach.

Xavier Badia, vice-president of Leather Cluster Barcelona and president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce in the Anoia, underlined the importance of this project for the sector, stressing that “the reuse of leather offcuts is both a challenge and an opportunity to innovate and provide sustainable solutions within the leather goods industry. This initiative not only helps to reduce waste, but also fosters a new way of thinking about design and production.”

The opening ceremony was held at the Igualada Leather Museum, an emblematic space that symbolises the tradition and evolution of the sector. Igualada City Council has supported the initiative, reinforcing its commitment to innovation and the sustainable development of local industry.

With this edition of XtremKuir Week, La Gaspar reaffirms its role as a benchmark in specialist training in leather, fashion and design, fostering collaboration between students, professionals and companies in order to face the challenges of the future with creativity and responsibility.

La Gaspar offers a wide range of vocational education in the field of design. The school currently has two training pathways: graphic and audiovisual design, and leather design. In the graphic design pathway, students can take the intermediate diploma in Printed Graphic Product Assistance and the higher diplomas in Advertising Graphics and Audiovisual Graphics in 3×2 mode. In the leather design pathway, students can take the intermediate diploma in Leather Accessories Craftsmanship and the higher diploma in Leather Techniques. La Gaspar is the only school in Catalonia to offer officially accredited studies in this highly specialised field.

For more information and further details about the school's educational offering, you can call 93.805.52.62 or visit the official website https://lagaspar.com,where you will find all the information you need.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is an environment of competitive cooperation 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 entity within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.