Here is no gesture without technique, no idea without matter.
From April 4 to May 31 2026
Engraving is both an art and a craft. Plate, pressure, ink, and paper come together in a process that demands time, precision, and a direct engagement with the material. In engraving, the image is not drawn; it is carefully constructed.
This exhibition presents an eclectic selection of artists across generations, united by a shared passion for technique. In dialogue with the permanent ceramics collection, the works explore two distinct ways of inscribing time into matter.
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In collaboration with: Galeria Artur Ramon – Galeria Prats Nogueras Blanchard – Polígrafa
An exhibition of utilitarian ceramics featuring some of the most established names on the contemporary scene. Long-standing figures whose work engages in a dialogue with the object, the craft, and the form — reclaiming the value of usefulness and beauty in everyday life.
A Sacred Cows invites us into the world of six ceramicists who have shaped the contemporary landscape through a practice that is both deeply rooted in craft and unmistakably personal. Artists who have forged their own distinct voices without turning away from function — and who show us that utilitarian ceramics can embody an artistic gesture of the highest order.
An exhibition with a clean, understated display approach, focused entirely on neutral-toned utilitarian ceramics. And yet, each artist presents a body of work that is unmistakably singular. A curatorial choice that offers a glimpse into the richness of ceramics as a discipline — where, with just a few elemental tools, an immense diversity of forms, techniques, and expressions can emerge.
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Sacred Cows is not merely a showcase of technical excellence: it is a statement in defence of the utilitarian object as a space for artistic exploration, and of the handcrafted gesture as an act that is both essential and resolutely contemporary.
Conversations with the Clay Masters
Marcos Pacheco & Josep Matés August 23 (18 h)
Mia Llauder & Nené Maristany August 30 (18 h)
Lola Rivière & Carme Balada September 13 (18 h)
Artists
Mako Artigas
With a background in textile design, her work in porcelain — defined by simple forms and monochrome brushstrokes — explores the balance between softness, lightness, and the power of the line. Each piece becomes a space for meditative expression, echoing both her origins in Japan and the life she later built within the Artigas family, in close dialogue with key figures of the European art scene.
Carme Balada
Her work is a personal interpretation of the richness and sensitivity found in both Japanese and African traditions, combined with refined design and a purity of form deeply influenced by Scandinavian aesthetics. Her pieces speak to the greatness of small things, with a thoughtful gaze toward utilitarianism — everyday objects through which we come to understand life by way of beauty.
Mia Llauder
Organic at its core and formally expressive, Llauder creates pieces that blur the line between vessel and sculpture. Gesture, material, and surface speak in their own right, entering into conversation with the plant elements cultivated by Nené Maristany. The interplay between nature and object gives rise to sculptural works that remain unmistakably tied to function.
Josep Matés
Rigor and precision define a trajectory committed to tradition, functionality, and formal excellence. Matés crafts pieces of quiet elegance, embodying perseverance and a constant search for the roots of a craft as old as time itself.
Marcos Pacheco
His work reveals a masterful command of form and surface, using clay alone — both as a structural and surface element. Simple in shape, his pieces display surfaces where the language of nature unfolds its own narrative.
Lola Rivière
Her work invites us to experience our connection to history and ancient cultures, to feel the erosion left by the passage of time. Her pieces awaken a sense of collective memory, drawing us into a quiet continuum — an intimate, everyday relationship with the humble object.
From 12 April to 27 July, 2025
Guest Artist – 2025 – Gema Galdón
Caterina Roma Studio & Gallery presents “Gema Galdón: HEADS DRESSED UP FOR GALA”, a tribute to Dalí’s muse embodied in a series of unique hats that transcend the limits of the conventional.
Caterina Roma Studio & Gallery in Púbol is delighted to present a collection of pieces that is not just a simple manifestation of style, but a truly free and daring artistic reinterpretation. Through her creations, Galdón invites us to challenge our everyday preconceptions of how we should dress, to let ourselves become inspired by the things we like and that intrigue us. In her world, fashion becomes art.
Púbol, March 10, 2025
“For Heads Dressed Up for Gala, I have chosen to exhibit a series of unique pieces that create an interplay around the head. They may seem like clothes, although really what I am trying to generate is an ‘osmotic dialogue’ with Caterina Roma’s pieces that cohabit with them. I am interested in causing a kind of ‘cross-pollination’ in the Caterina Roma Studio & Gallery so that later the pieces will evolve into another unexpected artefact. Given time, we will find out what they will become.”
Gema Galdón
Gala: from the Old French, gale “amusement, pleasure” which derives from galer “to enjoy, to celebrate”.
In this exhibition, the artist invites us to run from commercial trends, to free us from the restrictions of “what will people say”, and to really dress up. Fashion should not only be a question of covering up our body, but an opportunity to express a our individuality and dreams: our very essence. The art of dressing is an act of personal freedom, and in Surrealism, judgments have no relevance.
What is there of Gala in her work?
There is a whole dream world in which Gema embodies her “visions”, cutting up fabrics and then joining them together, allowing herself go into something like an automatic painting trance, which in turn feeds her performative side. She draws, she knits, she sews, and she tries things on a thousand times in front of a huge mirror that is hung on an old wardrobe door – something that looks like a portal to another dimension. She is the only one that poses with her creations, and she uses her strong will and impulses to drive what she does.
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About the artist
Making hats was not something Gema had ever imagined doing: she had never studied fashion, nor had she ever been interested in sewing. The first time she made a hat was as a favour, helping to style a catalogue. She had just finished studying interior design, so she designed a kind of small space that was inside out, that is to say, instead of furniture being inside the four walls, outside of the walls she put a kind of dome that would be supported on the head of the wearer.
She stitched each hem and each seam with no real idea of what she was doing, she says. But she did it “with awe and enchantment, like someone writing by hand for the first time in a foreign alphabet; breathing deeply, being very patient and trying to understand the basics: where the holes went, where the thread went. I knew straight away that I was hooked by doing this”.
Gema Galdón does not call herself a milliner, nor an artist, nor a craftswoman, she simply makes… and she is satisfied with this word: making; she makes pieces that are placed on the head or on the body, which act as a base for them.
After the frenzied excitement of opening a space near Barcelona’s Passeig de Gràcia to exhibit and sell her creations, she decided to train in traditional hat making, following the rule-book closely for the first few years until little by little, she began to reformulate her processes.
Over the years, she dusted off her tools from her Fine Arts background and brought in knowledge from other disciplines, such as photography and architecture. Her projects emerged one by one from her workshop table, until she consolidated her characteristic non-milliner style. In some pieces she included a pinch of her performance side.
The way that Gema Galdón constructs her pieces is mainly her own combination of techniques: she puts together all sorts of discarded materials that she finds in other designers’ workshops. She selects, cleans, and classifies them, from large swathes to little boxes containing tiny scraps of fabric, loose threads, beads… The other element she uses is air, which she traps between layers and then shows off by catching the light.
She believes that if she had not taken this step, she would never have worked on such interesting film and theatre projects or have her work shown at the MET.
FROM 23 JUNE TO 28 JULY
Guest Artist – 2024 – Jordi Ribaudí Trepat
Are creators born or are they made?
First cousins Jordi Ribaudí Trepat and Caterina Roma Trepat come together in this joint exhibition. Their creations form an intimate dialogue, while the creators relive memories of a shared childhood. Threads from a single spool of yarn that intertwine, get lost, find each other and weave together.
Both artists have inherited the spirit of a great Catalan family, which includes characters such as the avant-garde painter Lluís Trepat, or the entrepreneur Josep Trepat, who built the foundry that is now the Cal Trepat museum (in Tàrrega) museutrepat.cat. Their family history has undoubtedly played a role in leading them both to develop a taste for creating with their hands.
Their pieces of contemporary craftsmanship share an exquisite and at the same time radical treatment of the materials they use: leather, wood, ceramics… which come together in a dialogue about artistic creation, but also about all the many secrets that lie at the heart of each and every family.
ABOUT THE LEATHER
Jordi Ribaudí makes all his collections exclusively with cowhide tanned with vegetable extracts (chestnut, mimosa and quebracho). This guarantees top-quality raw materials while giving the material a natural look with the texture and imperfections that are typical of leather.
“I think that this exhibition is a very intimate way of looking at craftsmanship. And this is thanks to inviting Jordi Ribaudí. We have shared many life experiences, but always ones linked to the family. Although it is true that ours is a very Catalan way of building a family: with a certain distance, but also a feeling of understanding and belonging.”
Caterina Roma
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Sobre l’artista
Jordi Ribaudí was born into a family that ran a large leather factory in the Rec d’Igualada neighbourhood (in the Province of Barcelona).
Ribaudí’s creative restlessness led him to explore the world of craftsmanship and manual production after a long and successful career in the world of industrial design.
The story began in 2005 when Jordi Ribaudí decided to move his product design studio very close to where his family had run a leather factory; he set up his new studio in a 19th century tannery in the Rec neighborhood.
In 2009, in parallel with his design work, Ribaudí partnered with a group of creators to start the Recstores project, with the aim of showcasing the architectural heritage of the neighborhood, temporarily installing pop-up stores in abandoned tanneries.
This project allowed him to begin to get to know and befriend several of the tanners in the area. These relationships led him to find out all about leather-making processes, and he was able to explore the possibilities afforded by the material, experiment with it, and finally create with leather.
His work is a marriage between traditional production and a contemporary vision, the coming together of the neighborhood tanners and their family roots, to create and revive a material that has been used for generations in his hometown.
His work has been shown all over the world, from Dubai to New York, London, Paris, Stockholm or Venice.
A personal selection by Caterina Roma, during her recent stay in Japan, of silk, linen and cotton pieces.
Kimonos that have had their use in the social life of the Japanese, chosen for every occasion, always cared for like a treasure. Pieces that have been passed down from generation to generation, and despite not knowing their origin, one perceives a history.
During the month of December, in the gallery of Púbol, a staging that looks like out of a shadow play.
FROM JUNE 17 TO JULY 16 Guest artist – 2023 – Mako Artigas
Mako Artigas (Tokyo, 1937) is one of those women who discreetly hide lives that are rich with stories, art and culture. She was an outstanding textile designer in Paris in the seventies and eighties, when her impressive creative power seduced internationally renowned firms producing both prêt-a-porter and haute couture, from Paco Rabanne to Nina Ricci or André Courrèges.
Here in this exhibition, the Caterina Roma Studio & Gallery is delighted to be showing a wide selection of her textile designs, and to pay homage to the work of the first great Japanese artist settled in Catalonia.
Many of Mako Artigas’s designs, especially those for haute couture, echo the aesthetic of the ancient Japanese katagami stencil textiles that the artist managed to rescue, along with other ancient family treasures. There are drawings using gouache, wax reserves, coloured inks and pastels on paper, and some of them have been transferred using traditional printing techniques such as katazome. The Japanese paper sheets contain delicate designs of original, geometric and abstract shapes that are widely inspired by nature, art, culture and architecture. As she has said in an interview: nous suivons notre inspiration et l’air du temps.
Mako Artigas has lived and breathed the world of textile design and printing from a very young age, since both her father’s family and her mother’s family have been in the textile industry for generations.
These roots and the artistic environment in which she developed allowed her to create a work full of nuances, steeped in tradition but also in step with the main avant-garde trends.
In parallel to this personal journey, Mako was introduced by Gardy Artigas to the world of Miró and other great avant-garde artists, from Chagall to Calder, by way of Giacometti and Hamada. And her stays in Gallifa, with its wood-fired kilns, also led Mako Artigas to become involved in the world of ceramics. That relationship brings us to the present day, and to the setting of this exhibition Tokyo – Paris – Barcelona.
It is clear that the delicate and evocative work of Mako Artigas has made a significant mark on textile design, but in this exhibition we are showing her original pieces on paper so that they can be viewed as true works of art: they are compositions that reflect a search for excellence in artisanal and artistic work. This show is also a homage to Mako Artigas, giving recognition to her as an artist, something that has been overshadowed by her work in the industry. Caterina Roma
Mako Artigas és una d’aquelles dones darrera la modèstia de les quals s’hi amaga una vida plena d’històries, d’art i de cultura. A més d’una abundant producció de ceràmiques, riques en matisos, personals i subtils, com a dissenyadora tèxtil va destacar al París dels anys setanta i vuitanta per una producció prolífica que va seduir les firmes de prêt-a-porter i l’alta costura de major prestigi internacional, des de Paco Rabanne fins a Nina Ricci o André Courrèges. Mako Artigas, la primera gran artista japonesa afincada a Catalunya, presenta amb aquesta exposició una selecció representativa de dissenys per a teixits com a testimoni la seva creativitat.
Nascuda a Tòquio l’any 1937, Mako Artigas va passar la infància i joventut al Japó, on va viure en primera persona els estralls de la Segona Guerra Mundial. En temps de l’ocupació aliada, els pares van inscriure la jove Mako a l’escola catòlica Seisen Joshi Gakuin (Yokosuka) i allà va veure despertar, a una edat primerenca, l’interès per Occident. Ben aviat, l’art i la vida artística la van atraure i la van decidir a matricular-se a la Universitat de Belles Arts de Tòquio (Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku), on es va graduar en l’especialitat de disseny tèxtil i estampats. L’elecció del món del tèxtil va ser natural, perquè tant la família del pare com la de la mare tenien una llarga tradició en el camp de la indústria tèxtil. El pare, Ishikawa Masamichi, treballava a l’antiga empresa de la familia de teixits de cotó, Kashikichi, del centre de Tòquio, mentre que l’àvia materna, Nishimura Kinu, va heretar una important empresa de sedes de Kyoto, Chikichi, fundada el 1555 per Sengiriya Yozaemon. En altres paraules, el món del disseny tèxtil i de l’estampació va ser el que va viure i respirar des de ben jove. Passats els anys durs de l’ocupació nord-americana i superats els quatre anys de formació universitària, i després d’exposar a Tòquio una selecció dels seus primers treballs com a dissenyadora de teixits, l’anhel de descobrir el món en un moment en què era difícil sortir del país, la curiositat i l’afany d’experiències, la van empenyer a provar sort. Va ser així que, amb vint-i-tres anys, el 1960 va aconseguir partir – o fugir – cap a Europa, i, després d’una estada a Roma en ocasió dels Jocs Olímpics, la tardor d’aquell mateix any va arribar a Madrid, on va començar a assistir a una acadèmia de dibuix de la Plaza Mayor i on va coincidir amb actors i escriptors japonesos de pas per la capital, com el cèlebre Mishima o Ishihara Yujirō. A Madrid, però, s’hi va estar poc temps. Amb ganes de poder treballar en el món dels estampats, el desembre d’aquell mateix 1960, es va instal·lar a Barcelona i, encoratjada per Eudald Serra, un dels pocs artistes catalans que aleshores tenien relació amb el Japó, es va inscriure als cursos d’estampats que s’impartien a l’escola Massana. Tant Serra com Josep Llorens Artigas eren aleshores professors de l’escola, l’un d’escultura i l’altre de ceràmica.
Establerta a Barcelona, va començar a treballar fent unes primeres mostres per a teixits, unes feines que, essent pràcticament l’única japonesa de la ciutat, va combinar amb les d’intèrpret i de model per a empreses com Hijos de P. Corrons al I Salon del Hogar Moderno, el novembre de 1961. Tanmateix, el destí va fer que, a través d’Isabel Serra i Mariette Llorens, la jove artista entrés en contacte amb la família Artigas aquell mateix any. Poc després, el març de 1962, es va casar al Japó amb l’artista Joan Gardy Artigas. D’aleshores ençà, la presència de Mako en el sí de la família Artigas ha esdevingut una alenada d’aire fresc, una onada transformadora i una finestra oberta de bat a bat a una cultura i una manera diferent d’entendre l’art i la vida. Així mateix ho va afirmar Joan Miró en una entrevista del 1966 al diari japonès Mainichi: “He estat interessat en el Japó des de fa cinquanta anys però especialment després que la Mako entrés a formar part de la meva familia, tant és així que la meva comprensió i afecte pel Japó ha augmentat encara més en els darrers anys”.
Recent casats, l’any 1963 Mako Artigas es va traslladar a París amb Joan Gardy Artigas i amb el seu primer fill, Kenji, a una chambre de bonne just a sobre de la galeria d’Aimé Maeght. Va ser allà on, després de néixer el seu segon fill, Isao, a partir del 1967 va tenir l’oportunitat de posar en pràctica la formació d’anys anteriors per dedicar-se professionalment com a dissenyadora de tèxtils, treballant als prestigiosos tallers de Paul Hargittai. Poc després, el 1971 es va independitzar per poder treballar amb llibertat i autonomia fent dissenys tèxtils per a clients d’arreu del món, tant de França i Espanya, com del Japó, Alemanya, Holanda, Estats Units i Suïssa, i per altres dissenyadors reputats, com Jack Lenor Larsen. Alhora, uns anys més tard, el 1986, es va associar amb dues antigues companyes dels tallers de Hargittai: Catherine Maeght i Florence Marganne i totes tres van crear el grup Artigas – Maeght – Marganne. Van obrir un taller propi al cor del Marais, 63 Rue Charlot, i van unir esforços per crear una producció diversificada de dibuixos en guaix, tintes a color i aquarel·la sobre paper, alguns d’ells traspassats amb l’ús de tècniques d’impressió tradicionals com el katazome. Aquests dissenys, destinats tant a la producció de tapisseries, com per a cortinatges, catifes, papers pintats i peces de vestir, van aconseguir una gran nombre de clients de tal manera que, durant els anys vuitanta i noranta, els dibuixos de Mako Artigas van poder ser presentats a fires anuals com el salons Paritex i Haimtex, de París i Villepinte, o bé a la fira Indigo de Lille, on van ser premiats.
Els dissenys de Mako Artigas, destinats tant a l’alta costura com per a la llar, tenen un caràcter propi; són identificables com a tals. Són singulars per la fusió que l’artista va saber imprimir des d’un inici entre els gustos de la moda francesa i internacional de l’època, si bé la seva amplia producció ha inclòs una extensa varietat de formes originals, tant geomètriques com abstractes, o bé florals i naturals: nous suivons notre inspiration et l’air du temps, deia en una entrevista. No en va, molts dels seus dissenys, especialment aquells per a l’alta costura, ens recorden l’estètica dels antic estergits tèxtils japonesos katagami que Mako Artigas va aconseguir salvar d’entre els antics tresors de les families Ishikawa i Nishimura. Altres, en canvi, van ser fets evocant l’obra de Miró, de Matisse, de Gaudí, de Serizawa, o partint d’altres fonts, fos l’art africà, la natura o fins i tot incorporant els dibuixos d’Isao, el fill petit i futur artista. La necessitat d’adaptar-se a les demandes del mercat i dels principals clients internacionals, com Courrèges, Lelièvre, Bianchini Ferier o Rubelli, van esperonar-la a treballar amb imaginació obtenint com a resultat una obra plena de matisos capaç de dialogar tant amb la tradició com amb les principals tendències d’avantguarda.
En paral·lel a aquest camí personal, Mako es va aproximar, de la mà de Gardy Artigas, al món de Miró i d’altres grans artistes de l’avantguarda, de Chagall a Calder, passant per Giacometti o Hamada. I les estades periòdiques a Gallifa a partir dels anys seixanta, prop dels forns de llenya, van fer que d’una manera natural Mako Artigas s’anés acostant també al món de la ceràmica. Com si fos un joc i amb la llibertat d’aquella qui no es deu a ningú, va començar a fer peces de gres, plats i bols esmaltats que li van servir per explorar un nou mitjà d’expressió. Poc a poc, d’una manera natural, el disseny tèxtil va anar deixant pas i protagonisme a la ceràmica per acabar fent des de plats i bols utilitaris, fins a gerros artístics i joieria. Aquesta exposició però, se centra en presentar per primera vegada d’una manera extensa alguns dels testimonis de la trajectòria de Mako Artigas en el camp del disseny per a teixits, una pràctica continuada que mai ha tingut necessitat de promocionar. Ens referim a una tasca que ha dut a terme al llarg de diverses dècades amb dedicació plena, però que ha acabat sempre en mans d’empreses i de particulars, sense que ella n’hagi parlat; i és que el que produïa era normalment venut en poc temps, sense que hi hagués marge per preparar cap projecte. En el cas de les seves ceràmiques, algunes van ser exposades per primera vegada en una mostra de l’any 2001 a la Fundació Llorens Artigas, en què es van presentar mobles japonesos, antigues calaixeres i armaris portats del Japó. L’estiu de 2014, Valmont Barcelona va presentar l’exposició Les Printemps de Mako en què el visitant va poder descobrir l’estètica vivencial de l’artista, un any més tard va presentar diversos plats a la Galerie Houard de París i l’any 2019, l’estiu previ a la pandèmia, es va celebrar a Gallifa una nova exposició per presentar una selecció de la seva trajectòria com a artista. Aquests últims anys, ha començat a treballar de manera decidida amb la porcellana, fina, esvelta i de formes lleugeres però al mateix temps ha recuperat el treball més pictòric i gràfic per a teixits fent noves composicions que s’han anat sumant als centenars de mostres d’èpoques anteriors. La selecció de dissenys presentats ara a la Galeria de Caterina Roma de Púbol són un bon testimoni de l’esperit lliure i poètic de l’artista, així com del talent d’una dona que sempre ha defugit protagonisme però que mereix el màxim reconeixement.
Ricard Bru
Curator and texts: Ricard Bru
Design: Balbina Sardà
Staging: Marta Rastrollo
Archive images: Fundació Artigas
Photos: Iris Mir / Caterina Roma
FROM JUNE 25 TO JULY 31 Guest artist – 2022 – Manolo Sierra
Manolo Sierra (Cádiz, 1973) studied fine arts at the faculty of Seville, finishing in Carrara (Italy) with a specialization in sculpture. He has exhibited in different galleries such as the Sala Parés, Pigment or the Palau de Casavells. He has taken his work to fairs in London, Madrid, Amsterdam, Brussels, Houston or New York. For fifteen years he has resided in Albons, a small town in the Baix Empordà.
El título hace referencia a uno de los dos cuadros principales de la exposición, el dedicado a la luz interior, a la imaginación; el otro quiere ser la luz misma bajo el sol del medio día. La idea que me llevó a seleccionar cuadros tan diversos fue el pan de oro usado por Caterina en sus cerámicas para dorar (adorar) las grietas o uniones de sus piezas rotas por accidente. Expongo la intención de unir mi propia variedad de registros, este constante mirar hacia dentro y hacia afuera. Manolo Sierra
