It is the first anniversary of La Gaspar Leather, a benchmark centre for training in leather goods, prototyping and leather fashion accessories.

The La Gaspar Municipal School of Art and Design has officially opened the 2025–2026 academic year at an event held at the Centre Cívic Nord in Igualada. The event, chaired by the mayor of Igualada, Marc Castells, featured speeches by its director Raquel Camacho and the opening lecture by the renowned designer and creative director Albert Folch. Also attending were the councillors Pere Camps and Sandra de la Iglesia, as well as representatives of the city's business and cultural fabric.

During her address, the director Raquel Camacho highlighted the moment of growth and projection that La Gaspar is experiencing, with more than 360 students currently enrolled and more than a thousand people taking part every year in its programmes and workshops.

“We work to train competent and creative professionals, but also curious, critical and happy people. Because designing also means building the future”, said Camacho.

The director highlighted the first anniversary of La Gaspar Leather, the project promoted jointly with Louis Vuitton, which offers the only authorised international dual training in Catalonia in leather design and leather goods techniques. Since its creation, the leather pathway has experienced exceptional growth, establishing itself as a successful model of collaboration between education and industry.

Mayor Marc Castells stressed the strategic role of the school for the city of Igualada and for the design and leather goods sector: “La Gaspar is much more than a school of art and design: it is an engine of creativity, innovation and talent. Its collaboration with internationally prestigious companies such as Louis Vuitton and Loewe places Igualada on the world map of leather design and neo-craftsmanship”.

The guest of honour, Albert Folch, founder of Folch Studio and of projects such as Apartament Magazine and Gallery Sessions, gave a lecture on the role of design as a tool for transformation and for dialogue between disciplines and generations. Folch encouraged the students to “work with passion, curiosity and a critical spirit, because creativity is the only tool that never expires”.

The event concluded with recognition of the work of the teaching staff and of the involvement of the whole educational community. La Gaspar faces this new academic year with the aim of continuing to grow, strengthening its international projection and consolidating Igualada as a city of design, creativity and talent.

Leather Cluster Barcelona supports La Gaspar's leather design studies in the conviction that the commitment to neo-craftsmanship strengthens the cluster's business cooperation ecosystem, boosts the leather sector and prepares students to face the challenges of today's creative industry.

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