Barcelona perfumer born 1951, fourth-generation descendant of Myrurgia founder; independent niche fragrance creator since 2009 with 30 years at the family house.
Best for Inkwell-bottled Spanish niche.
Ramon Monegal was born in 1951 in Barcelona into a family with deep roots in fragrance and perfumery. His great-grandfather, Esteve Monegal i Prat, opened a drugstore that evolved into the founding of Myrurgia in 1916. Though he initially studied architecture, Monegal began training as a perfumer in 1972 at Myrurgia while also studying in Geneva with Artur Jordi Pey, in Grasse with Marcel Carles, and in Paris with Pierre Bourdon. Over more than 30 years at Myrurgia, Monegal developed fragrances for major fashion brands including Adolfo Domínguez, Antonio Miró, Don Algodón, and Massimo Dutti. After Puig acquired Myrurgia in 2000, he elected to pursue independent work. In 2009, he founded Monegal Projects and launched his own niche fragrance brand, RM (Ramón Monegal). Today his collection includes the Katharsis Collection with fragrances like Dopamine and Yummy Jam, Spanish-themed scents, Musks, Ouds, and the Ibiza collection. His practice blends family heritage with contemporary artistic direction and independent vision.
Barcelona jewelry line founded in 2018 by designer Adriana Manso, known for chunky, brightly colored acrylic 'bon-bon' rings hand-cast at a family-run workshop using recycled and locally collected plastic.
Best for Barcelona Y2K resin rings and plastic-fantastic jewels
La Manso was started in Barcelona in 2018 by designer Adriana Manso, whose background is in lighting design for theatre. The brand's starting point was upcycling acrylic costume jewelry sourced from vintage shops around Spain, inspired by pieces from her grandmother's own collection. The signature product is the 'bon-bon' ring - large, brightly colored plastic baubles set with rhinestones and gold-tone orbs - made by hand at a family-run factory using molds and locally collected recycled plastic. The label built its following through Instagram before catching on with wearers including Bella Hadid, Dua Lipa and Miley Cyrus.
Barcelona's grand fashion house since 1843 — four generations of the Taberner–Sans family, 2,000 m² on Passeig de Gràcia by architect William Sofield, its own bespoke tailoring atelier, in-house fragrances, and a champagne bistrot. The Catalan capital's benchmark of luxury for 180 years.
Best for The definitive Barcelona luxury edit, with bespoke tailoring upstairs.
Croissant in Barcelona — third-generation pastry chef Paula Grosset's tiny shop produces laminated perfection: butter croissants, pain au chocolat, and seasonal creations that rival Paris. Go.
Best for The butter croissant, the pain au chocolate, and the early morning queue.
Traditional Catalan cooking in Gràcia — enormous portions of grilled meats, calçots (in season), escalivada, and crema catalana. A family-run institution where locals eat.
Best for The calçotada, the grilled meats, and the family atmosphere.
The birthplace of the bomba — a no-frills tapas bar in Barceloneta that claims to have invented the bomba (potato croquette with spicy meat) in the 1950s. Still family-run, still packed.
Best for The original bomba, the family history, and the Barceloneta authenticity.
Casa Piera opened in 1941, when Vicente Piera Amat and Conchita Domènech Casas took a 60-square-metre shop on Carrer Cardenal Casañas, just off Plaza del Pi in central Barcelona, and began selling to the city's artists, artisans and art students.
Best for Fine-art and design materials from a family-run Barcelona shop trading since 1941
Casa Piera opened in 1941, when Vicente Piera Amat and Conchita Domènech Casas took a 60-square-metre shop on Carrer Cardenal Casañas, just off Plaza del Pi in central Barcelona, and began selling to the city's artists, artisans and art students. The business grew from that single small storefront into a business with locations in Sant Cugat and Vic as well as Barcelona, before consolidating its main premises in 2014 at Carrer del Pintor Fortuny, 21 — a 650-square-metre space large enough to give customers room to exhibit their own work alongside the shop's stock.
The present-day range covers the working needs of painters, illustrators and designers alike: oil, acrylic, watercolour, gouache and tempera paint; pencils, charcoal, pastels and markers; papers and sketchbooks; brushes and palette knives; canvas and stretchers; printmaking tools; and art-instruction books, alongside supplies for design, illustration and school use.
Eighty-plus years on from a couple opening a small shop off the Plaza del Pi, Casa Piera is still a family-founded business trading a few streets from its original address, now serving Barcelona's professional and student artists from a space built specifically to make room for their work.
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