OLULA AND HANDCRAFT FAIR FESTIVALET

Festivalet is a handcraft fair held in Barcelona for more than 10 years, every December. But for us it’s not just a designers market, is quite an event.

We all have dates or events that make us realize of the passage of time: a birthday, summer holidays, Christmas time… for us, this milestone is Festivalet.

For ten years now, when September comes a countdown starts in my head marking the remaining days until Festivalet begins. Because for us Festivalet is not just a market, it’s our anual trip to Barcelona, coming back to places we used to visit frecuently, visiting good friends, chatting with designers we admire (some of them are good friends now), and, of course, taking part in the most beautiful and charming designers market ever.

To tell you about our relation with Festivalet we need to go back to the very beginning of Olula.

Our brand was born in 2005. During that year we started selling our products in some shops in Madrid. A year later, a girl contacted us to talk us about her project of opening a shop in Barcelona with products made by independent designers and artisians.

By that time, my parents lived in Barcelona, so I took advantage of one of my frecuent visits to the city to meet Alicia and knowing more about her project: Duduá. Those who knew the shop would remember it as one of the most bright, original and fun shops in Barcelona. We are proud and happy of have been part of it, moreover because it was our first retailer out of our city.

In 2009 Alicia talked us about her new proyect: Festivalet, a handcraft fair born with the aim of helping independent young designers and small brands growing notoriety. The market consist in only 8 stands in a tiny room in La Central del Raval book store.

That December 2009 was one of the most crazy and stressful time we ever had, because we were working non stop to have finished on time for Christmas time our brand new shop in Madrid. Anyway, we wanted to attend the first edition of Festivalet, so we arrange it with the help of a friend to have our stand at Festivalet, in Barcelona, at the same time we were opening our brick and mortar shop in Madrid.

Starting then, each December we have repeated our short break to go to Barcelona, to Festivalet. Javi went to the second edition, I started going every year from the third edition, and we had to wait six years more to finally going both together.

More than ten years has passed and both our brand and Festivalet has changed a lot. The 8 stands of the first edition has turned now into 108, step by step, increasing each year the amount of participants and the size of the space where it’s held (always a special and singular one). Probably is this slow growing that makes Festivalet remains that beautiful and carefully organized and curated.

Our brand has also grown these years. There is not much now of the hairpins, brooches or felt animals we displayed in the first edition, but those who visit us every year know there are some things that remains the same.

Is less than a month now for the 12nd edition of Festivalet. The preparations, the worry for forgeting some important stuff, the long travel, with the car packed with boxes, the early wake up, the set up of the stand… everything is terribly exhausting and stressful, but I can assure you we wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world!

In this new edition, you will find crafts / design, delicatessen, materials, books, bar and workshops. You can’t miss it!

If you happen to be in Barcelona the next 14th and 15th of December we’d love t see you at our stand in Festivalet (at Museum Maritime of Barcelona).

You can read more about Festivalet here.