It is barely nine in the morning in Granollers, a city with an industrial past and around 60,000 inhabitants in the Vallès Oriental region, 27 kilometers from Barcelona. Amadeu and Gemma Barbany, father and daughter, “partners for seven years”, open the door of Dracs, their local fashion store in the center of the town, in a pedestrian alley a stone's throw from the market square, and they are preparing to dedicate the day to taking us into the IAIOS universe. The brand's colorful sweaters await on the large wooden counters. They are garments designed, as Gemma tells us, “to last”, as acts of resistance against the culture of frenetic immediacy and fast fashion. As Amadeu explains, they aim to be “a commitment to the eternal youth of grandfather's clothes, those fun, different, handmade pieces with personality, that survive the vertigo of fashion because people feel comfortable with them and are attached to them.” ”.
IAIOS is the latest incarnation of a family business whose origins date back to the fabric store that Joan Barbany, Gemma's great-great-grandfather, opened in Granollers in 1895. Great-grandfather Amadeu added a workshop and began making his own garments there. “Already in 1990,” explains Gemma Barbany, “my father inaugurated the first version of Dracs, a store in whose underground space workshops, exhibitions, small concerts and, in general, social and cultural initiatives were held that contributed to energize Granollers for more 20 years.” The store closed in 2012 and was reopened three years later in its current location. Amadeu, who by then had already become president of the Greater Center of Granollers Merchants Associationit was clear to him that the new business stage must also correspond to “a change in mentality: the time had come to try something different.”
Thus, in 2016, Gemma, with a degree in Fine Arts and a master's degree in digital communication, joined the company with the project of launching a new brand, that “operation to rescue old fashion, but adapted to the sensitivity of now”, which has ended up being IAIOS. From the beginning they were clear that they wanted each of the brand's models to have “a name and story behind it.” “We named the first design as iaio (yayo) Amadeu, in honor of the great-grandfather, who was the one who took the great leap into the void of becoming clothing producers,” explains Gemma. From there, in Amadeu's words, she crystallized the idea of choosing “a specific grandparent” as godfather for each new entry in the brand's catalogue: “An elderly person from our environment with a story to tell.”
This is how the sweaters dedicated to Tània Navarro, a 67-year-old transgender activist from Barcelona, were born; Mateu, maker and collector of spinning tops who just turned 93; Jaume, designer and draftsman from Canet de Mar, still active at 75; the centenarian Joan Carulla, a vegetarian by conviction, pioneer of urban gardens, or the now deceased Godfather Isidro, who was an anarchist and prisoner of war. For some of the sweaters, they have chosen illustrious sponsors, such as the Malaga dancer Bella Dora, the cartoonist and puppeteer Pilarín Bayés, the Italian educator Maria Montessori or the Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren, but the criterion that predominates, like almost everything in this initiative with so much roots, is betting on local seniors. “Almost everyone is excited about grandfather's stories,” argues Mateu, “and our idea was to recover all that wealth of experiences and bring it to those who buy our clothes.” “Every year,” explains Gemma, “we renew between a quarter and a third of our catalogue, so new sweaters are continually coming in, in limited productions of between 48 and 60 units per model, each one with its corresponding yayo behind it.” .
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he last to join the family and have a jersey that bears their name are Pere Diumaró, 93, and Teresa Muga, 78. Pere and I met in the place where he grew up, an apartment with views of the central Plaza de La Corona, in the commercial axis of the center of Granollers. The Diumarós ran Can Peret, a traditional tavern at the foot of the square, but he preferred to look for work in a local workshop where, as he tells us, he dedicated his days “to dressing dolls”, a wide assortment of personalized toys, with a seal of author, which Amadeu Barbany describes as “authentic filigrees.” Once retired, at the instigation of the local historian, Pere began to document in depth the past of the Plaza de la Corona, the nearby bell tower and, in general, even the last nook of this corner, just over a square kilometer from the center. of Granollers, where he spent his life. The result of this task of meticulous and exhaustive documentation are four books that Pere shows with enthusiasm and a point of pride. They are his personal contribution to the historical memory of a city that has found in him a passionate chronicler.
A few minutes away, at the El Xiprer residence, waits for Teresa Muga, who continues to come daily to volunteer in this soup kitchen and shelter that another veteran resident of Granollers, Mercè Riera, started in her family home. Teresa is an emotional and talkative woman, who takes care of her immediate surroundings (“my sister, my nephew”) and still finds time to dedicate to her other family, that of El Xiprer. For them she cooks, serves tables, sweeps, mops and organizes. With them she “lives and learns.” She assures that this gives her life. “What would I do without them, without my people? Even on the worst days, when problems overwhelm me, I walk through that door and all my ills are cured. I'm happy. “I feel useful.” For Amadeu Barbany, who serves as his assistant in that kitchen “full of life and anecdotes”, Teresa is “a true reference for solidarity in Granollers”.
Back on the upper floor of Dracs, where Gemma makes her designs, the Barbanys pose again and remember the phrase by the essayist Jules Renard that serves as their motto: “Old age has arrived when you begin to say that you have never felt so young”. Amadeu interprets it in a positive sense: “We are surrounded by very old people who retain their concerns, energy and enthusiasm.” IAIOS addresses them. It wants to be an intergenerational bridge between young people of all ages. In addition to a family society that, according to Gemma, works like clockwork: “My father and I share the fundamentals: an idea, a philosophy and some values.”
#Grandpa39s #clothes #don39t
