The Table @en
What was elBulli? A restaurant? A laboratory? An experiment? Will their innovation model be extrapolated to other industries? The idea came from two publicists, Jorge Martínez and Toni Segarra, when Fundación Telefónica commissioned them to handle the advertising for the upcoming exhibition on Ferran Adrià ‘Auditing the Creative Process’. In response to this proposal, they made a counterproposal. “What if we do a research on the creative process instead of an ordinary campaign?”. And so began The Table…
Is elBulli a work of art?
Time made Adrià a creator of concepts. He often said: “Being the first is not what’s important. What’s important is conceptualising”. In fact, that’s what happened with elBulli. That temple is gone, but the concept remains. And it left behind a trail which could well be compared to artistic movements.
Ferran Adrià’s reflections on creativity
The exhibition ‘Ferran Adrià. Auditing the creative process’ invites you to reflect on what the Catalan chef has done with creativity. From 29 October 2014 to 1 March 2015 you will be able to find out every detail of his creative process.
The story of a rear button
Behind every button lies hundreds of hours and thousands of thoughts. Moving a key by a millimetre or increasing the width of a device involves decisions in which a lot of time and resources have been invested.
Antonio Lafuente: “A laboratory is a place where important questions are asked”
CSIC researcher believes that the current laboratory model is very close to the experimental culture and claims more open spaces.
Albert Adrià: “What really motivates a creative person is fear”
They needed cheap staff. That’s how he got the job at elBulli. Ferran called him. He was his brother. He was 15 and the idea really excited him. This would get Albert Adrià away from home and bring him to Cala Montjoi. That was in 1985. Then, “elBulli was nothing like it is now”. It […]
Does creativity depend on emotion or context?
We’d like to imagine that David Byrne contorted his face into a wild grimace, and that while letting out an ear-splitting scream, he started to form the chords which ended up immortalised in that timeless hit. But that’s not how it was. He says that’s not how it is. That idealised image of the “rock […]
The Map of the Gastronomic Process
There are no big answers without big questions. At elBullifoundation they asked ‘What is cooking?’ and they tried to explain it in a chart they called the Map of the Gastronomic Process. “We tried to decipher the steps from the beginning to the end of a culinary process. With this map, we aim to explain […]
Jaque: “Innovating is directly proportional to the risk you assume”
Architecture was the science of construction until Andrés Jaque appeared. That world order trembled when he said that urban planning has much more to do with the way in which a family sits down at the table than a conference centre.
Andoni Aduriz: “To create you have to believe”
“Creativity is based on that distinct look or that unusual flavour, but, in turn, it is based on something that was already known and which, in addition to being new, has to be good. The exercise of creativity is a combination of the new and the good.”
Everyday problems distract you from the creative process
Eduard Xatruch, Marc Cuspinera and Oriol Castro, the three chefs from elBulli, tell us about their experience alongside Ferran Adrià. What the synergies were among the team members, how the creative process was generated… ultimately how Ferran could see what others could not and how he managed to get his team to see it too.
Stefan Zweig: “Artistic creation is inspiration plus work, delight plus torment”
There are other realms on planet Earth that escape the gaze of biology. These subspecies are books, paintings, symphonies…
Vicente Todolí: “Creation comes when you ask the right question”
The sun is truly Mediterranean today. It is beating down mercilessly on the land where Vicente Todolí grows 250 different species of citrus fruits. Where he produces his own oil. Where he lives when he is not travelling, surrounded by hundreds of books.
Is elBulli an algorithm? (II)
The question is this. elBulli revolutionised cuisine by applying particular work methods and creative formulas. Applied to other business, could this cause a new revolution? The team from The Table is investigating precisely this. We get into a conversation with Toni Segarra, Jorge Martínez and Enrique Gracián…
Is elBulli an algorithm? (I)
Dish number 1846 was the last. Ferran Adrià decided not to invent any more. He wanted to move from the workshop to reflection and thought. He wanted to know what happened in the last 25 years of his life as he became a chef capable of transforming world cuisine.
How to introduce creativity at work
On 10th June, the communication campaign was presented for the exhibition “Ferran Adrià. Auditing the Creative Process.” It is a very special campaign led by Fundación Telefónica.
Sagmeister: “Variety makes you happier”
Stefan Sagmeister made a decision. It was difficult, it seemed risky, but in the end it was simply a good decision. He left a promising job, closed an acclaimed design studio and, for a year, disappeared from a life in which he had only ever achieved success.
The Table
What was elBulli? A restaurant? A laboratory? An experiment? At Fundación Telefónica, we want to discover what happened in that corner of Cala Montjoi to make a group of chefs, led by Ferran Adrià, revolutionise gastronomy. We want to see whether their innovation model can be extrapolated to other industries.
A mathematician at The Table
Enrique Gracián is a mathematician. He studied Pure Sciences at the University of Barcelona and has spent much of his life teaching at university and secondary school. What has always interested him most, however, is problem solving. “The creation and solving of problems,” he emphasises, “because the history of mathematics is based on the creation […]
What if elBulli had been an advertising agency?
On 8th October 2014 will see the opening of this exhibition, organised by the chef and Fundación Telefónica under the name ‘Auditing the Creative Process’. But until that happens there is a team working in parallel to explain what this exhibition involves. It is led by Toni Segarra and Jorge Martínez.
Toni Segarra: “Good advertising is like popular poetry”
José Ortega y Gasset said that he never decided to be a journalist. It was inevitable, because he was born at a newspaper.