Barcelona Design Week, October 17 - 21

Barcelona has so many designers that there's a joke that says that in Barcelona the pick-up line is not "Do you work or study?" but "Do you work or design?".
This week came out the announcement of the next Barcelona Design Week in October, all the details can be found on this page, in English.
Another essential link for Barcelona and design is that to "Fostering Arts and Design", FAD Barcelona.

Madrid Book Fair

Unfortunately, their official website is only in Spanish, but if you happen to be in Madrid [not in Catalonia!] these days, do not miss the chance to pass by the bookseller's huts in the Retiro park. This year's official guest country is Germany.
Open until June 12, mornings and afternoons, - be careful, there is a siesta break...

100: a tribute to Literature

This is my personal post no. 100. It is dedicated to writers that give us great pleasure through their stories and help us to "forget our loneliness" (C.S. Lewis). One of my favourites among the contemporary is Haruki Murakami. I just read "What I talk about when I talk about running" and have "1Q84" before me. The Wikipedia has this on him.
Yesterday the Cervantes, the most prestigious literary award in the Spanish speaking world was given to Ana María Matute. Here is the Wikipedia entry on her. As far as I can see, none of her works has been translated into English, though she taught at various universities in the US.
Here you can read what El País had to say (in English) about this year's St. Jordi's Day, April 23, the feast of roses and books in honor of the Catalan patron saint.

Catalan (and Spanish) design at American University

Until May 15, the AU Museum in Washington, D.C., hosts an exhibition on contemporary Spanish design. The majority of the artists exposed are Catalans. Here you find more information, the catalogue in digital format, and an introduction to the program Spain Arts & Culture 2011. It is mentioned on Express Night Out. A review on TBD here.

Miró at the Tate Modern, April 14 - September 11

A great opportunity to experience Catalan culture in London. Here is the link to the Tate Modern's page; if you want to learn more about this painter, the Wikipedia has this to say. The Ramon Llull Institute in London has prepared an extensive programme to accompany this exhibition, look out for press releases here.

Buying clothes on-line

This blog is anomenated "... from the Catalan countryside" because its author really lives there, i.e. about 40km away from the nearest village with decent shopping. The problem about this village is that shopping hours are limited to more or less 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. to 9 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, and some of the fashion chains he likes are not present there, and sometimes it is difficult to find one's size as they can only store a limited volume of goods.
And there is no free parking in this village, except if you are willing to walk for 20 mins. each way, with a child on your hand and additional bags on your way back to the car. One can ride by train there but trains are infrequent, not punctual, and their schedules do not meet the shopping hours'. The village center breathes history, which means that the streets are narrow and often crowded.

A good alternative to bear with these "hardships" is shopping on-line (we started with books, home electronics, and toys) - at least if you are quite sure of your size with reference to certain brands. Unfortunately, though it was a widely reported on project in the past, fashion brands still have not unified their sizes. On the other hand, most on-line boutiques offer instructions on how to measure oneself to know one's correct size.

This blog entry was triggered by a piece of news that was on the radio this morning, published on the website of Inditex, Spain's biggest fashion house:
During the fall/winter season, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho and Uterqüe will launch e-stores, while Zara Online, now available in 16 countries, will expand to another two markets: the United States and Japan.

This is good news for Spanish consumers of cheap fashion, as H&M of Sweden does not have an online store in Spain yet. Desigual Barcelona, a more upscale brand with colourful designs also has an on-line presence. My better half has already bought shoes made by El Naturalista on-line as it is often difficult to find their full catalogue in all sizes in one shoe store. These shoes arrived a few days later, earlier than expected.

If you are really into cheap stuff, there are also La Redoute and Kiabi...

Buying on-line also offers one the possibility of buying American fashion in Europe at American prices, e.g. Levi's 501 on ebay.com for 30 USD instead of 75 EUR in a European Levi's store... Another possibility for buying big brands cheaper is "shopping clubs" such as buyvip.com; they send one e-mails with actual discount offers valid for only a few days; if one reacts quickly one buys cheaply - I have no experience with them yet.

Happy with their private lives but not their jobs

Today in the news: 90% of Spaniards are satisfied with how their private lives are going, 3% more than the European average, but only 60% are satisfied with their jobs, i.e. very few in comparison to their neighbours. No wonder as more than 20% are unemployed; and of those with a college education, 44% are working in jobs for which they are overqualified - and underpaid.

Positive side effects of the crisis: the consumption of tobacco and gasoline has gone down recently.