What is nublo?

Obsession of our times is the story, “storytelling”. Script every thing, every place and every work. To “communicate” – the marketing director warns us – but this ends up hopelessly turning them into narratives that compete to seduce the consumer. Closed stories with no room for imagination. Nublo is precisely the opposite, a place where man does not submit to the imposed story. In nublo you can feel free to build your own story.

Photography Aitor Ortiz

This place is like a Russian doll, in each layer lurks an older truth. Like an onion, sheet by sheet, another deeper one appears. The doubt in this is always whether there will be a bone inside – as if reality were just like a peach – or perhaps if, layer after layer of onion, finally there is nothing inside, except emptiness and crying. We know little about the ancient inhabitants of Bilibio, ancient Haro, Berones, Autrigones… people from many places have inhabited these lands since: Romans, Jews, Moors, Mudejars, Christians, etc. All adding to this place one more layer than in its center we can only imagine.

Photography López de Zubiria

The H U A R T E restaurant is located in the University of Navarra Museum, on the Pamplona Campus. The building is the work of Rafael Moneo and was inaugurated in 2015. The Museum was created as a container for the donation of María Josefa Huarte. A collection of contemporary art that includes pieces by Picasso, Palazuelo, Chillada, Oteiza, etc.

It is in homage to María Josefa Huarte that the restaurant takes its last name from her. Huarte, which means “island” in Basque, is also a nearby municipality. Based on its meaning, the restaurant’s interior design project aims to bring the sea to Pamplona. In front of the green, the forest, the trees; the sea, the cloud, the storm, the constellations.

Photography López de Zubiria

Very close to Donostia, but in a completely rural area, Mugaritz occupies the space of a “baserri” –an old Basque agricultural house–, it began its activity in 1998 and today it is unanimously considered one of the best restaurants in the world. On February 15, 2010, during the early hours of the morning, a short circuit completely destroyed the kitchen, leaving a large part of the room unusable and forcing the entire interior of both spaces to be reconstructed. The economy of means as well as the ethical need to preserve the memory of its origin were necessary conditions to undertake the reconstruction of the room.

Photography López de Zubiria

celestial breakwater (escollera celeste) (De escollo ).

(Del lat. C aelestis ). 1 . adj. (From Latin Caelestis) adj. Belonging to heaven

f. Work done with hanging stones threwn into the bottom of the sky sea so as to create a dike against the noise from thel.To lay the foundations of a quay, the ideas,and to protect the base of another work, the comfort and calm of a banquet.

Although preceded by a practica! desire to find an acoustic solution and even if the metaphor from the Kursaal Confer­ ence Center was that of “two stranded rocks ” the Laia Atelier team has sought the feeling of a literal “breakwater in the sky” where the rocks visible on the outside are now hanging from the ceiling inside. The objective was to create a reversed im­ age of the natural elements surrounding the restaurant: the breakwater, the movement of the sea, etc.

 lt’s an austere work where the challenge has been to achieve much with very little. The constant come and go of the sweet waters and the salty ocean make the location so  powerful that that there was no other option but to respect the land­ scape and use the natural elements already  in it.  Escaping all trends and fashions, the renovation has tried to recover a natural comfort empty of unnecessary complexities.

Photography López de Zubiria

The Bodegón Alejandro has witnessed the culinary evolution of the city over the last fifty years from its location on the Fermín Calbetón Street in the old section of San Sebastián.

The Bodegón has adapted to the changing times without letting go of any of its old charm. It pays tribute to this charm with dishes that are still inspired by popular Basque cuisine, that are forward-looking yet traditional, and that are based on the knowledge and use of seasonal products offered daily at the market. 

The space in the Bodegón Alejandro resembles a digestive track: a door as the mouth, a narrow set of downward stairs as the œsophagus, and a dining area as the stomach. And let’s not forget the bathrooms, which could be the intestines. In 2010 the Bodegón’s new owners, the IXO group, undertook a low-cost renovation of the tables and chairs, lighting, paint and decor, and sound proofing.

Photography López de Zubiria