citylikeyou — Salamanca / Xavi Garcia

Graphic designer from Salamanca, whose work reconciles classical motifs with the global concourse. After studying at Central Saint Martins, London, and with experience in New York City and Barcelona, Xavi now works from his hometown, a medieval city of golden stone located in the mid-West of Spain.

http://www.equisgarcia.com

Designer

Current city: Salamanca

equisgarcia.com

Salamanca / Place

Walls in some of the buildings surrounding the University are fully covered with this medieval form of graffiti called Vitor. Meaning victory, and dating as far back as the 14th century, they celebrate a student's graduation with a Doctorate. Traditionally painted using bull's blood (now with a less-controversial, less-charming synthetic pigment) it's interesting to see all the different variations on the same theme.

Salamanca / River

I enjoy riding my bike alongside the river, or sitting barefoot on the grass with a good read. Views include (within 100 meters) a Roman bridge, a Gothic-Baroque cathedral and a Modernist house with a mind-blowing stained-glass façade. A walk at night (with all these buildings illuminated) is mesmerizing, and in summertime it is also possible to rent a little boat and navigate the river.

Salamanca / Place

This medieval vault (attributed to Fernando Gallego) is one of my favorite places in the city to think. Set in a dark chamber, with only this piece on display and soft classical music playing on the background, colors seems to start changing every minute you spend there. By the time you leave the room, you will feel like you just returned from a different era.

Salamanca / Museum

In a city with such a big presence of historical landmarks, the fact that the contemporary museum is housed in the former city jail seems rather ironic—a lounge bar is also quite fittingly located on the jail's patio. Conserving most of the old elements from its former use, the space is always worth visiting, even if it's only to interact with this wonderful permanent installation by Mona Hatoum. The piece, located in room 4, repurposes the cell's doors to form a revolving door without exit.

Salamanca / Village

These two small mountain villages make for the perfect city escape in either summer or winter. I like to wander around the narrow, cobbled streets, cosy up in one of the many restaurants and cafés and look at the local craftsmen work in their shops. Not far away there's a mountain topped with a monastery—a great place to enjoy of a good dose of fresh air and serenity. Amazing views of the area don't hurt either.

Barcelona / Art Director

PeBe is the artistic alias for Pablo Benito. Born in Barcelona in 1987, he studied graphic design at Elisava, school of design and engineering of his city. His personal design vision is very focused on colour, geometrics, typography and illustration. In 2014 he founded his own design studio, and since then he have been working with several national and international companies such as RedBull, LaCaixa, Repsol, ICUB and the Barcelona city council. In 2015 he launched his online shop, a place to share his big passion for illustration. In the last couple of years he realized several exhibitions around different cities in Spain. During two consecutive years, he also participated to the Barcelona Designers Collective as one of the new incoming artists. Some very important media as The Guardian, Die welt, Fact Magazine or El País also echoed his work in the last years.

New York / Creative Director

I am a creative director, based between London and NYC where I design homeware and interior spaces. I love to travel - finding (and sharing) the best local restaurants, bars, galleries and shops on my travels brings me joy. Find my design work @clarewalsh and my travel tips (coming soon) @roomservice_world

New York / Designer

Interior Architect and Furniture Designer out of New York, originally from Copenhagen. Love all the stuff that surrounds us! Photograph by: Christian Larsen

Barcelona / Designer

Digital product designer

Copenhagen / Designer

Copenhagen based graphic designer

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