Lladró Celebrates 70 Years with New NYC Flagship and Book

It was nearly a decade ago that Interior Design launched the NYCxDesign Awards, each winner in the 50-plus categories receiving a custom Lladró Guest statue to take home. Now it’s the Spanish porcelain brand’s turn to mark a milestone—and it’s muy grande: its 70th anniversary. Every playful Lladró piece—from jewelry and objets to lamps and dishware, some collaborations with such luminaries as Jaime Hayon and Marcel Wanders—has been handmade by artisans in its sole factory in Valencia since 1953. Two ventures mark the occasion, both “testaments to our boundless creativity,” CEO Ana Rodríguez says. First is a new downtown Manhattan flagship, which replaces the uptown location to better reflect the brand’s connection to art and fashion. To conceive the 1,500-square-foot Meatpacking district space, Lladró tapped fellow Valencian outfit Carmen Baselga Taller de Proyectos, which devised a series of arched portals amid a sage, peach, and sand-tone palette, “a chromatic spectrum that provides a welcoming sensation for visitors,” Baselga notes. It’s there that they can spy The Porcelain Revolution, the “interactive” anniversary book that features wearable masks, self-adhesive tattoos, and vivid pages of smile-inducing products including that iconic Guest collection.