Double doors and imposing ceilings. Many friendly faces waiting to cater to your wishes. Entering Rabat from Barcelona’s Paseo de Gràcia, one of the largest in Europe, is quite an experience. Enter imposes. And then everything is kindness. Whether you buy a lot, a little or nothing, Rabat’s indoor universe is most welcoming.
A glass of champagne? A coffee? Water? A cocktail (from the Dry Martini)? This time it is Eva Palao who receives us. She, supervisor of architecture and interior design in the firm’s jewelry stores, is surely the most suitable to reveal the secrets of Casa Codina, where Rabat landed in 2015. In that imposing building where the sister of the painter Ramon Casas lived and stuck to the artist’s family residence and, also, wall to wall, La Pedrera. Everything is luxury (first haute jewelery and watchmaking brands) but also modernism.
Tall, stylish, rabidly pretty and with model manners, Eva Palao played a very important role in the remodeling of this impeccable space. Of course, protected, for which the Rabat family recovered everything they could from what was originally projected by Antoni Rovira i Rabassa. Everything, everything, recalls Palao, a graduate in Higher Architecture from the UPC and a master’s degree in Architectural Lighting Design and a postgraduate degree in Building Rehabilitation, “from hydraulic floors and original wood to ornate ceilings.” Only one license was allowed. The one to turn the main staircase, although it is the original one.
“I must give all the credit to the property, which was responsible for the arduous and detailed rehabilitation process in which I am tremendously grateful, for making us actively participate. A great job was done, long and very meticulous: getting the original tones, rescuing damaged ceilings and restoring their shape, color and life. Fitting together all the pieces of the mosaics, no matter how tiny they were… Very nice to see. And later it was complicated to adapt all the modernities of the many facilities that we had to put, but I think it turned out very well! It was great teamwork and with great professionals”, Eva Palou sums up.
The space is imposing but warm at the same time. Eva’s hand is noticeable. You can see the love that the Rabat family put into all the details. In protecting your history. In respecting her beauty.
“When we entered this building for the first time, it was different. Everything had to be done, but the most immediate thing was to recover the ceilings… and when removing all discounts we saw this marvel of coffered ceilings”, she says, looking up, fascinated, on the third floor of Rabat’s flagship boutique on Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona.
Behind, attentive, another of the jewels of the house watches her. A mural by Ramon Casas restored and converted into a painting. It is Elisa, the sister of the painter who received this gift for her wedding and who has witnessed, here, on this century-old wall, the passing of time and the coming and going of her tenants. She seems to be smiling proudly at this new stage in which the Rabat family has reconquered all its beauty for its equally unique exhibition of the most impressive jewelery and watches on the market.
Eva Palao, who has developed her professional career as an architect, designing the interior design of famous restaurants in Madrid, and has also participated in lighting projects for the Barcelona City Council, proudly looks at each corner of the flagship store without forgetting the challenge that supposed in its day its reform. Arriving at the company in 2008 as director of Rabat Magazine, a position she continues to hold alongside her duties as architecture and interior design supervisor, the wife of Jordi Rabat (current president and CEO) has undoubtedly become the best ambassador.
With a sporting spirit (“I started with rhythmic but then I switched to skiing until, at sixteen, I realized that I had to focus on my studies,” he explains) and more than clear ideas, it also has to do (and a lot ) with another store that the fine jewelry firm and distributor of the most prestigious watch and jewelry brands is proud of. The one that shines, with its own light, on Madrid’s golden mile. Two thousand square meters distributed over three floors. Spacious, beautiful and bright, it is also a different store.
Able to provide a magical and personal experience. At number 26 on Calle Serrano in Madrid, it stands out for the combination of organic and feminine lines that run through each of its surfaces. “The main floor is a diaphanous space, the result of the perfect combination between the natural and the artisan in which to enter the Rabat universe discovering the wide range of jewelery and watches”, she narrates, putting on her facet as an architect. But most importantly, what unites this store with the one in Barcelona, ??and with all those of the company, is its philosophy of “promoting the family tradition, illusion, passion, excellence and commitment to the industry, as well as that idea it is entirely possible with which we face the construction of all the Rabat universes”.
