LA ALMAZARA
The first signature oil mill in the world, designed by Philippe Starck, opens its doors in Ronda.
LA Almazara is transformed into a unique, immersive experience, complete with an olive press, museum and restaurant, to celebrate the magic of olive oil.
Designed by Philippe Starck, internationally renowned for his visionary creativity, LA Almazara reflects both passion and respect for Andalusia’s traditions, culture and natural environment
Located in the Serranía de Ronda mountains in Malaga Province, LA Almazara, designed by Philippe Starck, is an avant-garde project, an inhabitable work of art where every detail has been conceived to be functional yet stunning, a space that fuses the tradition of olive oil production with cutting-edge architecture. The long-term dream of Pedro Gómez de Baeza, made real by the French designer internationally renowned for his visionary creativity, LA Almazara is set to become a global touchstone. It celebrates the art and tradition of olive oil, reinvents olive oil tourism and is the world’s first signature oil mill.
For Philippe Starck, “LA Almazara is an exceptional, incredible, miraculous place where visitors can enjoy a radical yet moving experience which challenges and transforms. It’s a succession of mysteries in which respect for olive oil is crystallised and blended with emotion.”
Located in outstanding natural surroundings, just 2.5 km from Ronda, LA Almazara is designed to offer a unique and immersive experience which celebrates the magic and poetry of extra virgen olive oil, complete with a working oil press, museum, restaurant and dedicated area for tastings and events.
As Philippe Starck explains, “LA Almazara isn’t architecture or a cultural venue. It’s an object that has fallen from space and has simply taken ‘respect’ as its shape and name. Beyond the object in itself, LA Almazara has a function, which is to protect one of the things that provides for us as a species in our civilisation. There’s water, there’s salt and there’s oil. These elements are sacred. They have always been respected and probably always will.
LA Almazara pays tribute to this respect for olive oil passed down from all the civilisations that preceded us.”
Philippe Starck has opted for a minimal, timeless design, void of superfluous details or dressings, in which the pure essentials are developed with rigour and clarity. A monolithic red cube with a huge bull’s horn made of steel and a giant concrete eye which gives out black smoke. The watchful eye of Andalusia’s great surrealists, the smoke as a thought or gaze.
There are surprises and clear tributes inside too. A huge half-olive is encrusted in a corten steel wall. A metal tube penetrates the building yet never leaves it. Flowing water. An enormous figure with neither a head nor an identity, but with a plane made entirely of small pieces, one of the very first to take flight. Little pieces of wood. A giant bullfighter’s sword and an equally giant portrait of the matador from Ronda who invented it.
“In the cool and the darkness, olive oil is everywhere, surrounded by intelligent people. Which is no surprise because olive oil makes you cleverer. It’s fuel for the brain,” says Philippe Starck.
About LA Almazara
LA Almazara, located in the Serranía de Ronda (Malaga) and designed by Philippe Starck, is an avant-garde project which fuses olive oil tradition and architectural innovation. Conceived as a touchstone for olive oil tourism, it offers visitors a genuinely sensory experience which encompasses an interactive museum, a restaurant and activities centred on the culture of olive oil. LA Almazara champions local traditions and customs, highlighting the gastronomic and cultural importance of olive oil in the region, and all from an unparalleled location against the backdrop of the Ronda mountains.
