5 exciting design shops in Barcelona

After more than 20 years, Gotham has become a reference. The store sells furniture, lamps and a collection of delightful miscellanea. Pricey? Yes. Worth it? Yes!

Forget about the old-fashioned souvenir shop and check out this selfproclaimed curiosity store. Vases, odd wall decorations, figurines and other objects quivering on the verge of art and occasionally a larger object.

Zabriskie is named after the movie Zabriskie Point, Antonioni’s critique of consumerism. The owners of this shop certainly have a sense of humour, because Zabriskie is an outlet, bringing together the crumbs that fell of consumerism’s table. Lots of very cheap clothes, picture frames, candles and knickknacks.

A visit to this 450-square-metre store feels like walking through a catalogue: you get so many visual impressions here! The art deco and midcentury furniture, as well as the wide range of objects and decoration, might conjure up the mental image of an over-stuffed living room. But what’s so cool here is that, because of the presentation in a new context, all of a sudden you can see the beauty of these old pieces, and how ready they are ready for a second life in a contemporary home.

This is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Because the furniture here tends to be ginormous. Because it’s pricey. Because you don’t want a stuffed bird in your living room, or a lamp that looks like the one above a dentist’s chair – only much, much bigger. But for sheer enjoyment of its multicultural, unabashed extravagance, Azul Tierra is a magnificent store