A Weekend of Filipino Creativity in Barcelona
On July 4–5, Lola’s Garden joined Manila Collective at Potassi K-19 Art Gallery in Barcelona for a weekend celebrating Filipino creativity, culture and community. From 17:00 to 21:00 each evening, the gallery became a meeting point for artists, creatives, makers and members of the Filipino community—bringing a little piece of Manila into the heart of Barcelona.
The event formed part of Manila Calling, Manila Collective’s travelling creative project connecting Manila with cities including Barcelona, Madrid and Tokyo. The project brings together Filipino and international artists across disciplines, transforming original artworks into silk textile pieces alongside prints, zines, apparel and collectible objects.
For Lola’s Garden, being part of the weekend felt especially meaningful.
A Filipino fragrance house in Barcelona
Lola’s Garden was created in Barcelona, but its roots are Filipino. Our fragrances explore the places, memories and cultural references that travel with us—much like the Filipino diaspora itself. We believe culture does not stay in one place. It moves, adapts and finds new ways to express itself.
That is why events like this matter to us.
Potassi K-19 offered a space where different forms of Filipino creativity could exist side by side. Art, fashion, design, fragrance and community became part of the same conversation. Visitors were able to discover Lola’s Garden and experience our fragrances in person, while meeting the people and stories behind the brand.
More than a market
What made the weekend special was not simply what was being sold or exhibited, but the people who came together around it. Manila Collective’s wider project brings together around 70 creatives from the Philippines, Spain, France, Italy and Japan, creating a platform for Filipino creativity to be seen, shared and experienced internationally.
For us, Lola’s Garden belongs in that conversation.
We are interested in what happens when Filipino identity is interpreted through a contemporary lens—without needing to recreate the past or explain it away.
A fragrance can carry a memory.
A piece of art can carry a place.
A community can carry a culture across borders.
And sometimes, all of those things can meet in one room.
Thank you
Thank you to Manila Collective for creating the space, to the artists and creatives who shared their work, and to everyone who stopped by Lola’s Garden during the weekend. Most of all, thank you to the Filipino community in Barcelona and to everyone who continues to support independent Filipino creativity far from home.
This was more than a pop-up for us. It was a small reminder that wherever the diaspora goes, we carry something of home with us.
Until the next one.
