Food & Drink -- 12 days ago
How Wanda Barcelona brought winter to Bicester Village
The Spanish studio, specialising in the use of paper and cardboard, has deftly decorated the luxury shopping destination…
The Spanish studio, specialising in the use of paper and cardboard, has deftly decorated the luxury shopping destination…
Winter always leaves a paper trail. But Christmas, with its many paper hats, paper chains and endless reams of wrapping paper, is usually the end of the rustling, bustling affair. But not this year. For, while each new year may be present a proverbial blank sheet, Bicester Village has already papered 2023 in remarkable, renewable style.
And this isn’t common card; it’s no ordinary paper — or vanilla manila. Instead, it’s high-shine, ornate stuff — cut and crafted into intricate, incandescent decorations by Wanda Barcelona, a sharp-edged start-up that uses both traditional techniques and state-of-the-art technology to create elegant adornments and accessories. And, this winter, the studio’s meticulously-made decorations can be found at Bicester Village.
Launched to enhance the experience offered by The Bicester Collection, the team at Wanda studied textile designer William Morris and the symbolic ‘Acanthus’ leaf to create these bespoke golden patterns. “We wanted to create a very organic reinterpretation of a star,” Inti Velez Botero, co-founder and one of brand’s three core creatives, tells us. “The background we designed to cover the façades is made up constellations that give the paper stars an infinite background. We started this fascinating adventure last January — and production took three months”.
The results are spectacular. An ‘ode to the night sky’, the starry art installation has transformed the luxury Oxfordshire destination into a seasonal wonderland. And, if the decorations weren’t enough of a draw, there’s also up to 70% off at many of the boutiques in the ‘Extraordinary Sale’ this January. That means labels from Paul Smith to Ted Baker, Barbour to Hackett London, are all boasting even further designer discounts.
Elsewhere in Bicester Village, the latest restaurant from the Soho House group has opened; Cecconi’s. Featuring a traditional northern Italian menu of ‘cicchetti’, including seafood spaghetti and wood-fired pizzas, the eatery will also have a special winter menu — offering dishes as unmissable as those golden stars outside.
And the stars really are unmissable. Methodically mounted up and down the Village’s cobbled thoroughfare, the larger-than-life creations are made by hand from biodegradable cardboard and paper, which will be recycled and reused once winter draws to a frosty end. It’s an utterly unique enterprise — but how did Botero and his team get their crafting start?
“Wanda Barcelona was born when Dani [Mancini, the brand’s designer] and I met,” says Botero. “We started doing projects together, here and there. Early projects included an origami figure from a beer paper label in a bar. And then others followed. We both had full time jobs and Dani was still studying in university.
“But we worked on Wanda during the nights and weekends,” he adds, “because we were younger, and we didn’t need sleep. It was not until 2008 that we took the decision of renting a small studio, and dedicated our full time and energy to this paper project”.
Today, the brand’s core trio — rounded out by artist Iris Joval — lead a core team of a dozen creatives from various professions; from interiors experts to graphic designers. However, for The Bicester Collection project, this was expanded to 20 workers, such was the intricacy and manpower needed to complete such a large scale installation.
“We prototype with paper glue, scissors and hands,” explains Botero. “And we design with our hands. Once a design is finished and approved — we work with 3D modelling to calculate the number of pieces we need — we digitalise everything and proceed to laser cut. Then, the assembly process is completed by hand”.
And, while the Bicester Village installation takes its wintry cues from William Morris, the decorations at other destinations in The Bicester Collection — including La Roca Village, the Spanish shopping location a mere stone’s throw from Wanda Barcelona’s studio and La Vallée Village near Paris, have their own individual characters.
So, whether you’re driving up to Oxfordshire in the coming weeks, or find yourself somewhere further-flung, it’ll pay to visit a Village this winter — for the decorations and the discounts.
Want more from your visit? Make time for these 5 must-visit destinations in (and around) Bicester…
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