Eliurpi’s Magical World

This is a visit to the working atelier of Eli Urpí and Nacho Umpiérrez in Barcelona's old town, a space closed to the public. Fernwayer travelers are invited for an unhurried visit with the artists: a walk through the showroom, time in the studio where pieces are designed, and coffee together over conversation about the work. As you enter the space, you see finished pieces sit alongside designs still in progress. Eli started by sewing small hats. The work has grown into a body of pieces that sit somewhere between fashion, sculpture and craft tradition. Eli talks about inspirations — traditional Spanish forms, contemporary art, architecture, moments of looking that made their way into the form of a hat or sculpture. You're invited to try on some of the pieces. From there, you move into the private studio — an area usually reserved for curators and collectors — where Eli and Nacho show objects, images, references, and the way tradition and contemporary art come together in their work.

Most ateliers of this caliber don't open their doors. Eli and Nacho's studio is not a gallery; it's a working space where designs are made. This experience, offered only through Fernwayer, lets you spend time with the artists themselves. What you encounter is a genuine creative partnership. Eli is the designer; Nacho is the photographer and creative partner. Their work blurs the usual boundaries between fashion, sculpture, and craft: wearable pieces that are also art objects, sculptural pieces that hold the logic of a hat. Their works have been recognized by the Michelangelo Foundation, named Best of Spain by AD in 2023, and shown in biennials and international galleries. For travelers, and art and fashion enthusiasts who want to meet the people behind the work — to hear how they got here, what they're working on now, and to spend a few hours inside their practice — this is a rare kind of access. The visit closes over coffee, talking about exhibitions and current projects.

Elisabet Urpí and Nacho Umpiérrez are partners in life and work. Eli is a self-taught designer and graphic artist; Nacho is a photographer and creative collaborator. They work slowly, by hand, in a studio closed to the public — interested in the meeting points between disciplines, where a hat becomes sculpture, where a photograph informs a design. Their sculptural works are increasingly acquired by international collectors.

Walking shoes for navigating the studio and the cobbled streets of the old town. An open mind for the work itself — pieces that sit between tradition and contemporary art.