Eli Urpí (El Papiolet, 1985) and Nacho Umpiérrez (Colonia del Sacramento, 1983) began over a decade ago, crafting silk headpieces. By chance—or perhaps by fate—the old hat blocks of the Galician milliner María Mazás fell into their hands. From that moment, they began to reinterpret classical millinery through a lens that was both contemporary and deeply personal. Their work, exquisite and experimental, found its way into stores like Browns (London) and Harrods, yet it was also presented behind closed doors in their Gòtic Quarter showroom in Barcelona. There, to this day, they continue to welcome visitors in what feel more like intimate encounters than appointments.
Yet their creative restlessness soon led them to blur the boundaries between fashion, art, and design. “We wanted the hat to stop being a functional object and become a sculpture,” says Urpí. “Our greatest influence in textile art has been Aurèlia Muñoz,” she explains. This urge for evolution first took shape in hybrid pieces—hand-painted wide-brimmed hats, abstract canvases deconstructing the hat’s form. Then came furniture—stools, tables, lighting—and more recently, textile sculpture. Each step, though organic, has also been a clear stance: no gallery, no calendar, no concessions.
In just a few years, their work has travelled from Seoul (Cheongju Craft Biennale) to Madrid (Art U Ready), Milan (Palazzo Litta and the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci), Miami (Design Miami), and Barcelona (Escat and Il·lacions). In 2025, their creations will appear alongside Balenciaga hats in the Matter Mattersexhibition at the Disseny Hub Barcelona, and they have been awarded the Saco de Artesanía Contemporánea prize at Madrid Craft Week, earning them growing international attention.
Today, without a permanent gallery or external impositions, Eliurpi flows. And as in their work, in their journey too, the essence of order is change. A change that does not stray from their artisanal roots, but transforms them into something else: a way of thinking—material, silent, and profoundly sensitive.