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Vincon
Click here to view map Click here to launch website Perhaps more of a design museum than a viable shopping choice, Vincon is a true experience. Housed, at the top of Passeig de Gracia, in undoubtedly one of the most beautiful buildings ever to contain a common shop, Vincon is some way beyond a typical high street interior design store. The shop has one floor of crazily expensive furniture and art that you look at and think, hmm, that’s a good idea, I could make that - but never do - and one floor of smaller gadgety items. There is also a very attractive, gigantic outside terraza, with patio furniture displayed upon it - which you will wish was yours to throw summer parties on - and an actual museum space. It’s hard to know what to talk about first, the luxurious interior architecture of the building, with its carved wooden ceilings dripping with gold paint, or the shop itself. The ground floor holds a collection of small items ranging from the bizarre to the almost useful. Polystyrene chairs in the shape of a man’s legs and arse, giant moneyboxes in the shape of various Spanish beer bottles, glowing USB hardrives in the shape of the virgin Mary , Norman Foster designed notepads (with price tags similar in scale to his normal fee) a child’s swing shaped like a rather abstract horse and black toilet paper are a small selection of the curiosities on offer. My favourite item by far however is the table football with plastic character action figures in place of normal players. One side has Jesus in goal and Freddie Mercury up front whilst the other fields clowns, punks, policemen and builders - like some sort of Village People Sunday league game. The furniture is less quirky than the contents of the lower floor. Presumably excellent quality but wildly expensive sofas, shelving and tables, marked out by the odd piece which really stands out as being something different - like the mirror laid out like a sort of comet, with various pieces of glass connected by silver arms. To be honest I doubt I will ever buy anything in Vincon, I’ll never be rich enough to buy the football table or the nice furniture, but I’ll keep going back and maybe, just maybe, I’ll treat myself one day to a €4 pencil, or a really nicely designed piece of cutlery… hmm, I can only dream.

Address:

Passeig de Gràcia, 96, 08008

Area:

Eixample Right

Nearest Metro:

Diagonal

Opening times:

Mon-Sat 10am-8.30pm

Price range:

Pricey

Items sold:

Gifts
Home Furnishings
Miscellaneous