“Your reservation is ready,” says Guille, co-owner of the premises, as he shows you your table. You look at the menu, with a wide variety of dishes and drinks. You decide on a ‘bowl’ that looks good. Now only the ingredients are missing. “What paint do you want for your plate?” he asks you. No, you are not at a dinner with your partner: today’s date consists of paint potterythe latest fashion ‘influencer’as evidenced by its dozens of ‘stories’ with ‘handmade’ tableware.
“The ceramics it’s like a restaurant, table reservations, on the menu you have all kinds of pieces, you choose paints, styles, and at the end there is an oven and cooking”, jokes Katia who, together with Guille, is the co-owner of Studio Kanay (Bruce, 5), pottery studio Barcelona pioneer. They started in 2016, “when we were barely five studios.” Now “there is a dozen in each neighborhood.”
The ‘boom’ of ceramics occurred in 2017, although after the pandemic he returned, when the whole world became fond of crafts. But this ‘hobby’ is complex, and “requires devoting a lot of time,” they say. For this reason, when the ‘influencers’ discovered that paint tableware it was “the fast track to experience it”, these types of plans were reproduced faster than Julio Iglesias on a world tour.
“Yesterday we had here amelicious, the one from ‘Masterchef'”, says Guille, who explained how to go from pastry ovens to ceramic ovens. And she is not the only one: influencers like Carla di Pinto or Maria Martiamong others, have also gone through kanay. “Every day we have an average of 60 people,” adds Katia. Taking into account that the place has a maximum capacity for six groups of four people, and that each one has up to two hours to paint… Yes, there is a lot of demand. “We already have reservations for April,” they comment.
The picturesque experience begins right at the entrance, where virgin ceramic crockery rests on a shelf, which will end up bathed in color in the style of Agatha Ruiz de la Prada. While you choose which canvas to decorate, dozens of plates, candlesticks, piggy banks and teapots gaze at you as if you were walking through the castle from ‘Beauty and the Beast’. “The cups are the most popular, followed by dog feeders», says Katya.
As soon as you make the decision -almost more difficult than Sophie’s-, Guille hands you the Pantonethe Brushesand is accompanied by a ‘express masterclass of the techniques and styles with which you can paint, from lines, dots and brushstrokes to complicated compositions a la ‘trencadís’ by Gaudí. And get to work.
The atmosphere in the room is calm: although there is some soft talk, painting is absorbing, as a kind of mindfulnessSo silence reigns. “Time stands still here,” says Katia. In fact, that’s how she started: “I’m a computer scientist, and I signed up for workshops while I was doing my master’s degree to de-stress. In the end, I liked it so much that I began to dedicate myself professionally to ceramics».
But, despite the concentration, when you get out of line for the first time, you realize that it is more difficult than it seemed. “This is like a child, you want it no matter how it comes out,” says a client, while she looks with some skepticism at the result of her cup. «Don’t worry, everyone always says that it turned out better than expected. The oven works miracles», assures, laughing, Guille. Of course, they won’t know until ten days from now, when, after resting and going through the fire, her dishes are ready.
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The usual audience is between 20 and 35 years old (yes, the typical audience of ‘influencers’), but it is open to people of all ages. Today, for example, a group of retirees has gathered to catch up between brushes. A few months ago, Guille recalls, he spent a Bachelorette party, who made new crockery for the newlyweds. And even a lover wrote to him a love letter your partner in a cup. It is clear that she will no longer need coffee to perk up in the morning.