La Central dels Oficis is presented as a centre that unites the trades of the past with the needs of the present, and today’s young people with the professions of the future. A living and positive bridge between tradition and innovation, between master and apprentice, between generations that give each other continuity .

We believe in the value of manual, technical and craft skills, not from a nostalgic perspective, but as a commitment to the future that dignifies the professional role of the trade. A rising value, fully connected with today’s most relevant social and creative movements.

We believe in the intelligence of the hands, the most natural form of human intelligence: sensitive, personal, and unrepeatable.
The only one capable of facing the threat of artificial intelligence —precisely because it is the easiest to emulate and replace.

We believe that we must recover the great workshops, the sanctuaries of the masters — whether carpentry, electricity, mechanics, sculpture or plastic arts — because workshops are an invaluable social treasure.

We reaffirm the work of the craftsperson, understood as someone who works through personal intuition and enjoys what they make. Not only in the final outcome, but in each step of the process.

We believe that academia and the workshop must reconnect — because thinking and doing are not opposites, but two necessary ways of knowing.

We believe that manual skills and artisanal work deserve social recognition, and that it is in everyone’s interest to dignify the role of the trade professional in the face of the supremacy of intellectual training.

We believe in ingenuity and the innate abilities of each person, in the unique value they bring to their work and the strength this gives individuals to grow.

We believe that manual and technical work need not be deprived of imagination, innovation, ingenuity, originality, or beauty.
The only thing that separates the arts from the crafts is prejudice, for every artistic creation is born first from the mastery of a technique.

  • We believe that manual skills and craftwork deserve social recognition and that it is in the public interest to dignify the role of the craft professional in the face of the supremacy of intellectual training.

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  • We believe in the value of manual, technical and artisanal skills in the contemporary world. Not from a nostalgic vision of recovery, but as a clear bet on the future: a rising value, aligned with today’s most current social movements and trends.

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  • We believe that the development of human ingenuity and personal abilities brings value to human contribution —unique, fragile, irreplaceable, infinitely valuable— and that it is what shapes us as people.

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  • We reclaim the work of the artisan understood as someone who takes pleasure in their craft and enjoys doing things well. A pleasure found not only in the final result, but in every step of the process.

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  • We believe in the intelligence of the hands. The natural, sensitive and personal intelligence of human beings— the only one capable of facing the rise of artificial intelligence, the form of intelligence that is easiest to imitate and replace.

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  • We believe that manual and technical work can also be imagination, innovation and beauty. That art and craft are not separate by nature, but only by prejudice, because all artistic creation is born, first and foremost, from technique.

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  • We believe that academia and the workshop—now separated—must be reunited. Knowledge and theoretical thinking are not incompatible with technical work; on the contrary: doing is also a way of thinking.

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  • We believe we must recover the great workshops, true sanctuaries of master artisans —carpentry, electricity, mechanics, sculpture, visual arts— because the workshops of great masters hold immeasurable social value.

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We understand that the satisfaction of creating with one’s hands something useful makes us feel socially necessary; that when one feels proud of what they make, they also feel proud of who they are. And that the recognition of others in relation to our work makes us feel valued and acknowledged as people.

Create

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Make

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Grow

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Create • Make • Grow •

  • «The hand and the head cannot be separated. If they are, it is the head that suffers.»

    Richard Sennett

  • «Artisans were, essentially, the first free citizens.»

    Anatxu Zabalbeascoa

  • «I’ve seen chairs re-woven or a tap repaired with the same care and obsession with which Michelangelo sculpted David.»

    Charles Péguy

  • «The creation of an object can become the expression of the most extreme human abilities.»

    Gijs Bakker

  • «Craft is reinventing itself. Today it is already a luxury— but a luxury within everyone's reach.»

    Ana Illueca

  • «It can be observed that the hand is more intelligent and endowed with greater creative energy than the head.»

    Géza Révész