Rick Stein

Ironically, a few weeks after I finally got it together to put my obsession with Spanish commerce into a blog, Rick Stein’s Spain started on BBC2. I take my hat off to whoever researched this series! It really does open up the parts of Spain that many British viewers will not be familiar with and celebrates the rough and ready, warts and all food culture that reflects the way of life that I find so attractive. Highlights of the first episode were a visit to an Asturian Cider festival, an unlicensed village bar in Cantabria and the members of a gastronomic society singing about how hungry they are! Watch it. 

Siesta

Even in a big city like Valencia, between 2.30 and 3pm most things close down while people eat and spend time with their family and friends. This is inconvenient, inefficient and bad for the economy, but utterly civilised.

Definitely NOT self-conscious

A couple of years ago I had the misfortune to sit next to a very snooty journalist from Madrid at dinner. She spent most of the meal revelling in her own self importance, but she did tell me something that I found interesting and this was that the Spanish do not have a direct equivalent for the term ‘self-conscious’. She may well have been pulling my leg, but when watching Spaniards about their everyday business it does seem to make sense. They really do not seem to ever be stilted or self-aware. From the stalls in the market to the dining halls, where families indulge in long lunches in the middle of a weekday, there is an intoxicating conviviality that is not lost in translation. 

Back to Valencia

I returned to Valencia at the first opportunity in spring 2007 and (as well as photographing dusty old shops and architectural typography) I realised my ambition to watch a game at the Mestalla and got caught up in a demo in the old town.

Branding without Helvetica

Between 1936 and 1975 Spain was ruled by the conservative dictator, General Franco and as a result was not as exposed to the sanitising typographic influence of the International style as other countries in europe. Even now, in a city like Valencia you can see very clearly that the ‘crud’ that Michael Beirut talks of still exists and there are still lots of examples of architectural typography and packaging that have not been cleaned up. Coming from a world of Helvetica these are what I was drawn to on my first visit, but I always did have a soft spot for the 'crappy' and 'home-made'.

Helvetica

“I imagine there was a time when it must have felt so good to take something that was old and dusty and homemade and crappy looking and replace it with Helvetica. It must have felt like you were scrubbing the crud off of some filthy old thing and restoring it to shining beauty” 

Michael Beirut in 'Helvetica'.

Identity?

I found this in Eye 53  which includes an essay by Nick Bell as part of a feature called ‘Brand Madness’. He quotes the Design Director of the New York Times, Tom Bodkin who says that’ Design should not be the primary means of establishing identity.. It can help define and convey identity, but should not be relied upon to originate it. Identity is the natural outgrowth of a complex set of standards and tradition, not something that can be applied to the outside, like a brand.” 

El Paraiso

In the area around the Central Market in Valencia there are a series of small specialist retailers who sell things like hats, wool, fans, lace and catering uniforms. Each of these shops has a brand that is built on expertise, not a logo or a mission statement. Brand strategy does not dictate what they sell and how, their knowledge of their product and relationship with their customers does. Such businesses evolve their appearance over years and what they look like is not decided upon by a design team. They are not kept alive by some desire for nostalgia and they do not look ‘traditional’ or ‘rustic’ by choice, they look the way they look because of a complex chain of events not because they want to attract a certain clientele and put their prices up. The people who own them are the same people who serve in them. They have families, responsibilities, local knowledge and a place in the community. (click images to enlarge)

While putting together this post I checked on 'google streetview' that the businesses I photographed were still there. They are! And I am pleased to say that Lana El Paraiso has just opened a second shop across the road. Look for yourself...

Bar La Lonja

On my second day in Valencia I summoned the courage to have breakfast in the café that seemed to be most popular with the market traders. There didn’t seem to be a menu, so I pointed at what looked good on the counter and sat down to await what they did with it. Bar La Lonja feels like entering someone’s front room and being cooked for by their mum! The café con leche and chipirones bocadillo I ate that morning, as I watched the interrelationships unfold around me, felt and tasted like the best breakfast ever. It certainly tasted better than a authentically British gastro pub meal, served up as part of a carefully worked out brand experience in London. I ate at La Lonja every day of that trip and even achieved a nodded acknowledgement from the owner on the last day. I was also introduced to the heady pleasures of a carajillo first thing in the morning. Carajillo comes from the Spanish word for courage (coraje) and drawing and photographing strangers certainly feels a bit easier after a double expresso topped up with brandy!

Mercado Central

There is a difference between thinking about going off to a strange city on your own to draw and actually doing it! It feels strange and slightly perverse to stand, watch and record other people as they go about their everyday business. What did the stall holders in the Central Market think of this English bloke scribbling in his sketchbook as their customers did their Xmas shopping!?. It would have seemed less odd if I had a beard and grey hair, but as a young bloke with nice trainers, I felt very rather conspicuous. Despite this with each drawing and photograph I became less self-conscious and I even managed to strike up some conversations in pigeon Spanish with the people I was drawing.