An ear cuff is a small thing with considerable scope for invention. At MAM Originals, it’s part of a wider experiment in how jewelry sits on the body, alongside pieces for the face and hair, rings, bracelets and anklets. The Barcelona label’s first shop gives these sculptural designs a suitably ambitious setting: Casa Joan Manuel Bofill, a restored 19th-century building in the Barri Gòtic.
Founded in 2014 by Jordi Enrique Albert and creative director Anthya Tirado, MAM began with wooden watches before turning its attention to jewelry. The approach is genderless, with pieces designed around the contours of the body and room for the wearer to decide how to combine them. Ear cuffs are a good introduction to that thinking; the face and hair jewelry take it further. Leather and raffia bags extend the collection beyond metal, while recycled materials and certified sourcing inform the jewelry’s production.
The building has had several lives of its own. Designed in 1852 by Elies Rogent, the architect behind the Universitat de Barcelona, it housed a steamship company before serving as a Guardia Civil barracks during the Civil War. The renovation by La Marca Studio took its cue from kintsugi (the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold). Gold highlights damaged sections of the old tiled floors, making the repairs visible and giving the original surfaces a place in the new interior.
MAM House brings the shop together with the label’s offices and workshop, so the space belongs to the people making the designs as well as those buying them. Take time to look at the floor, then try something on.