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The New Luxe: Darial’s Interior Design, Fashion, and Food

Fashion+Design· Food+Drink

11 Dec
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DARIAL Concept Store Barcelona

When an abandoned modernista textile warehouse is turned into an unparalleled interior design and fashion space with beautifully curated mens- and womenswear and home goods, we all win. Oh and did we mention it’s also a bookstore and a restaurant that serves up a market-driven menu with vegan options and natural wines?

Barcelona Luxe

There are some excellent reasons to take a stroll around the Arc de Triomf area of Barcelona, not the least of which is the cosy café and brunch scene developing along the Passieg de Sant Joan. Another is the proliferation of Chinese joints, where you can treat the family to giant bowls of steaming noodles and dumplings for a mere five euros. Now there is a new one – Darial – a luxury concept store that blows all other fashion destinations in the city (or nearly anywhere else) out of the water.

Darial Luxury Concept Store

The Space + Design

Darial is spread over a massive 1,500 square metres in what was an abandoned textile warehouse on the ground floor of the Casa Tomàs Roger, just one of the outstanding modernista buildings along this stretch of the Carrer d’ Ausiàs Marc. Five years in the making, it is the baby of founder and creative director Djabe Diassamidze, a Georgia-born, Paris-based fashion designer and aesthete, whose personal style exudes the same sense of elevated chic he has instilled in Darial.

Perhaps as a backlash to Scandi minimalism, art deco glamour has been hailed as the new décor trend, and Darial will no doubt feature in future design tomes as a case in point. Original supporting pillars have been converted into golden palm trees, their fronds cleverly crafted using 3D printing, a technique also used for the racks, which appear to have strands of ivy curling around their posts. Walls and floors are bathed in white, setting off black velvet banquettes and early 18th century salon chairs Diassamidze picked up in a French flea market, along with a giant Soviet-era wall painting that once belonged to a theatre. Stiff shantung silk curtains and plush carpet, both in ivory, form the dressing rooms, strategically located next to a standalone display of Diassamidze’s Dynasty-inspired evening wear. With such a seductive mise-en-scène, you half expect screen siren Greta Garbo to emerge from the floor-to ceiling mirror-lined bathrooms ready for her close-up.

DARIAL Djaba Diassmidze
This is no mere clothing store for confirmed fashionistas though, as Diassamidze explains. Darial, which means ‘gateway’ in Old Persian, also targets “anybody who wants to pop in and just hang out.” “This is why I chose Barcelona over Paris,” he continues,

“Here people have more time to enjoy themselves, to spend afternoons browsing and looking at beautiful things.

The Fashion + Browseabout

And there are so many, many beautiful things here to peruse. Racks and racks of clothing by such sartorial heavyweights as Raf Simons, Haider Ackerman and Jil Sander; lacquered tables displaying crystal baubles, designer phone cases and cult cosmetics; everything here is edited and it all complements each other, forming a thousand dream ensembles for those whose lifestyles and incomes warrant spending 100 euros on a t-shirt or over 6,000 on a stunning Yoji Yamamoto coat with gold regalia.

But there are more affordable items too. A return visit to Darial a few weeks before Christmas reveals the fashionable-but-friendly staff merrily prancing around to carol music and a delightful selection of decorations and knick-knacks, such as a pair of glitter encrusted candles (7 euros), or snowball featuring Darial’s signature gold palm tree (13 euros) – certainly worth snapping up for the carry bag alone.

The Food + Wine

After taking in this feast for your eyes, nip into Le Léopard, Darial’s in-house brassiere named after Visconti’s cult film that mostly saw Burt Lancaster as the Prince of Salina wandering in existential agony from chamber to chamber in his magnificent Sicilian palace. Channeling a much more upbeat kind of decadence, Le Léopard is open from morning coffee to late suppers, with an appealing selection of dishes such eggs benedict, risottos and pastas. The bread is served with proper butter pats (hurrah!) and the menu del día (20 euros) is particularly good value. Perhaps not as much as the Chinese joints, but worth it to revel in Darial’s sheer exquisiteness, even for an hour or two.

Carrer d’ Ausiàs Marc 37. 08010. Tel. 934 17 73 37
Darial open: Monday to Friday 11am-9pm. Sunday noon-8pm.
Le Léopard open: 9am-1pm daily.
www.darial.com

Guest Author: Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Suzanne Wales landed in Barcelona in 1992, that pivotal Olympic year when the city changed forever. Since then, she has worked as a writer mainly covering the creative scene, for magazines such as Dwell, Frame, Metropolis and Wallpaper. She lives in Horta, with her daughter, dog and cat, while trying to finally cultivate a vegetable garden.

About Suzanne Wales

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Suzanne Wales landed in Barcelona in 1992, that pivotal Olympic year when the city changed forever. Since then, she has worked as a writer mainly covering the creative scene, for magazines such as Dwell, Frame, Metropolis and Wallpaper. She lives in Horta, with her daughter, dog and cat, while trying to finally cultivate a vegetable garden.

View all posts by Suzanne Wales


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I feel like someone’s overcompensating for somet I feel like someone’s overcompensating for something…see next photo. But I like it! 🌱🪴
The best time (and only time in the summer) to be The best time (and only time in the summer) to be down in Barceloneta is between 7-10am before the hoards of people. Morning is for all the runners, cyclists, fitness and yoga classes and locals taking their morning swim!
Happy Barcelona Dogs! So there’s a new adorable, Happy Barcelona Dogs! So there’s a new adorable, and pretty posh dog store @petspirit.bcn that opened around the corner from me, and well, they love my pups and invited us to an ice cream social with @pupukis.food and the dogs went crazy for these helados!🍦🐶🐕
I have walked passed this lady several times now. I have walked passed this lady several times now. She’s quite impressive as you get closer and depending on where you stand changes everything! The exhibition of Juame Plensa “Poetry of Silence” at La Pedrera is over but this beauty is still sitting there, quietly.
If you like fancy hotel bars, fashion and vintage If you like fancy hotel bars, fashion and vintage posters stop in @elpalacebarcelona where they are celebrating 180 years of fashion with Santa Eulalia @santaeulalia1843 - the stunning family owned historic department store known for its selection of luxury designers and brands, as well as a world renowned men’s tailoring boutique and chic bistro. These two together make for one exceptionally stylish afternoon!
Visual representation of what Barcleona feels like Visual representation of what Barcleona feels like right now, a hot and humid jungle! This is truly a lovely spot, even to just sit and sweat. Do you know it?
Rule number one for walking around Barcelona, when Rule number one for walking around Barcelona, when the doors are open, that means you are welcome to step inside!  Free architecture, design and style are all around. Keep your 👀 open.
We eat Açaí on Sunday @acaiandme_ Play my Pistac We eat Açaí on Sunday @acaiandme_ Play my Pistachio 👏🏼
Vive la France 🇫🇷 Chateau Capitoul - only a Vive la France 🇫🇷 Chateau Capitoul - only a two hour train ride from Barcelona. @chateaucapitoul
The stunning interior of Boca Grande! Oh yes, and The stunning interior of Boca Grande! Oh yes, and the ridiculously delicious king crab legs 😳 oysters, flaming seabass, and deserts. I’m having a hard time articulating the extravagance of it all.
Follow on Instagram
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