Philippe Starck Reflects on LA Almazara’s Avant-Garde Design

Summary

LA Almazara, an avant-garde olive oil mill designed by Philippe Starck, opened in Ronda, Spain, hon­or­ing the cul­tural her­itage of olive oil pro­duc­tion in Andalusia. The project, ini­ti­ated by Pedro Gómez de Baeza and Santiago Muguiro, took 14 years to com­plete and focuses on organic farm­ing and regen­er­a­tive agri­cul­ture tech­niques. The mill aims to pro­vide a sen­sory expe­ri­ence for vis­i­tors while pro­duc­ing high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil, becom­ing a sanc­tu­ary for the appre­ci­a­tion of olive oil and Andalusian cul­ture.

LA Almazara, an avant-garde olive oil mill, opened in October 2024 in Ronda, a pic­turesque town in south­ern Spain.

The town sits on a plateau, pro­vides stun­ning views of El Tajo Gorge, and is rich in his­tory. It fea­tures one of Spain’s old­est bull­fight­ing rings and the pic­turesque Moorish quar­ter, La Ciudad. 

Designed by French archi­tect Philippe Starck, who prefers to be called a cre­ator, LA Almazara hon­ors the cul­tural her­itage of olive oil pro­duc­tion in Andalusia. 

The project, ini­ti­ated by late investor Pedro Gómez de Baeza and LA Organic’s chief exec­u­tive Santiago Muguiro, took 14 years to com­plete.

The struc­ture’s exte­rior show­cases a strik­ing red cube resem­bling a fallen object from the sky. It also fea­tures a large eye sym­bol­iz­ing the vig­i­lance of Andalusian sur­re­al­ist artists. 

Starck approaches all his projects like a film direc­tor, craft­ing nar­ra­tives to evoke emo­tions and inspire view­ers. LA Almazara reflects this phi­los­o­phy. 

Starck told Olive Oil Times that his goal was to cre­ate a space filled with sur­prises that engage the senses.

“For LA Almazara, I aimed to trans­late the Andalusian cul­ture and tra­di­tions into a mon­u­men­tal object, where every­thing is out of scale, and where fer­tile sur­prises cap­ti­vate the eye and stim­u­late the mind,” he said.

The idea for LA Almazara stemmed from a con­ver­sa­tion between Starck and his late friend Perico Gómez de Baeza. They wanted to show the world the value of Spanish organic olive oil. 

“When Perico came to see me 20 years ago, he told me that some­thing seemed strange to him,” Starck recalled. ​“It was the fact that the num­ber one seller of olive oil in the world is known to be from Italy, but strangely enough, the num­ber one pro­ducer of olive oil is Spain.”

Together, they cre­ated LA Organic, craft­ing extra vir­gin olive oil the same way a cel­lar mas­ter would pro­duce fine wines and win­ning numer­ous awards. Gómez de Baeza, who worked for four decades in the finan­cial and invest­ment bank­ing sec­tor, served as the pres­i­dent of LA Organic.

Years after that ini­tial con­ver­sa­tion with his friend, Starck finally brought LA Almazara to life.

“At LA Almazara, sus­tain­abil­ity is cen­tral to our phi­los­o­phy,” said Jorge Amat, LA Almazara’s mar­ket­ing exec­u­tive. ​“We prac­tice 100-per­cent organic farm­ing in our olive groves, avoid­ing syn­thetic pes­ti­cides and fer­til­iz­ers to main­tain soil health and bio­di­ver­sity.”

Our regen­er­a­tive agri­cul­ture tech­niques, such as cover crop­ping and nat­ural com­post­ing, enrich the land and reduce water usage,” he added. ​“We also employ pre­ci­sion irri­ga­tion and energy-sav­ing tech­nolo­gies to min­i­mize envi­ron­men­tal impact.” 

“By pri­or­i­tiz­ing organic meth­ods, we pro­duce olives in a chem­i­cal-free envi­ron­ment, result­ing in purer oils rich in antiox­i­dants that reflect the authen­tic fla­vors of our land,” Amat con­tin­ued. ​“Our care­ful han­dling dur­ing har­vest­ing and cold extrac­tion pre­serves the fruit’s integrity, enhanc­ing the aro­mas and taste of LA Organic oils.”

At the cen­ter of the groves, Starck said he intended LA Almazara to serve as a sanc­tu­ary for the sen­sory expe­ri­ences entwined in olive oil pro­duc­tion and tast­ing.

“It is a place for con­tem­pla­tion and sen­sory expe­ri­ence, sur­rounded by vast olive groves and illu­mi­nated by Andalusia’s vibrant and warm light,” he said. ​“This remark­able envi­ron­ment dic­tated the level of rad­i­cal­ity required for the project. Everything had to be extra­or­di­nary, some­what pecu­liar and sur­re­al­is­tic.” 

Along with the aes­thet­ics, Starck added that the design is highly con­ducive to pro­duc­ing high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil.

“LA Almazara is a won­der­fully func­tional machine in the ser­vice and respect of olive oil,” he said. ​“There is a rad­i­cal con­trast between the inside of LA Almazara, where it is dark and cool, and the out­side, with Andalusia’s warmth and daz­zling lights.” 

Inside, vis­i­tors encounter unex­pected artis­tic ele­ments, such as a half-olive embed­ded in a rusted steel wall and a metal pipe that pen­e­trates the build­ing. The design plays with light and shadow, fea­tur­ing a ter­race sus­pended by metal chains. Additionally, the space hon­ors Andalusian cul­ture through a large bull­fight­ing sword and a por­trait of a renowned mata­dor.

“LA Almazara is, above all, a func­tional build­ing that serves the com­mu­nity and human­ity by hon­or­ing and pro­tect­ing olive oil,” Starck said. ​“Yet it is also a great ​‘slap in the face’ that awak­ens, shakes up, enlivens and moves.”

Amat noted that LA Almazara’s team has mul­ti­ple projects in the pipeline.

“Soon, we will launch exclu­sive tast­ings and work­shops that delve deeper into olive oil and organic farm­ing,” he said. ​“We are also expand­ing our event offer­ings, trans­form­ing LA Almazara into a pre­mier des­ti­na­tion for gourmet events, con­certs and cul­tural gath­er­ings.”

“Additionally, we are work­ing on enhanc­ing our vis­i­tor expe­ri­ence with new routes through our olive groves and vine­yards, as well as immer­sive activ­i­ties that con­nect guests even more deeply with our phi­los­o­phy of sus­tain­abil­ity, nature, and excel­lence,” he added.

Starck con­cluded that he had cre­ated the mill to become part of humanity’s cul­tural and archi­tec­tural her­itage.

“Our vision has been and always will be to con­tinue to cel­e­brate the essence, the beauty, and magic of organic olive oil and, through this respect, also our love for us, humans,” he said. ​“LA Almazara is a place for for­ever.”