La Postalera: the most beautiful souvenirs from the heart of Valencia to the rest of the world
Valencia is a city of light , flowers, oranges, paellas, falleras... but beyond clichés, Valencia has been able to reinvent itself in recent years and position itself as leading destination on a par with many European capitals . And everyone wants to take a little piece of that light -which even has its own filter on Instagram- home. But, Do we really want to take a fallera that resembles the flamenco ones to place on top of the television? A bland paella magnet with a Made in China sticker behind it? In the world to come, it will be necessary to bet on the local, on the artisans, on the proximity...
It is precisely to answer these questions that the postcard , something that Valencia lacked, something that distilled the aroma of La Terreta on all four sides...
Adolfo Lopez and David van der Veen have been at the helm for more than 10 years Fandi.es , a photography and video studio , focused on weddings. Some time ago they set up their studio in the heart of the city. “Where we are, in the old part of the city, every day masses and masses of tourists passed . And what they could take as a souvenir from Valencia, was uglier and more neglected every day. What memories were we giving them of the city? Something had to be done,” Adolfo tells us.
At first it was just a thought, which due to the volume of work they had, it was impossible to materialize. But then the day came. In a somewhat quieter season and low on weddings, decided to jump into the pool . David van der Veen, the team's illustrator, was approached to create a collection of 5-6 postcards from Valencia . They developed them and it was Adolfo himself who distributed them throughout the souvenir and gift shops . The success was resounding. They were selling and people demanded more.
Badges of La Postalera
And the concern for that something else took over this pair of tireless creators. “Why don't we set up a shop?” Adolfo wondered. I thought and fet , as we would say in La Terrera. "With all the inexperience of what it was to set up a commercial premises, we got down to it," recalls Adolfo. In a short time the opportunity arose to take a local, very close to the Lonja de la Seda (Dances, 3) that he was going to be free. And so, in March 2019, it opened the doors of the postcard , a space dedicated entirely to remembrance, to souvenirs made into something beautiful, to the romanticism of postcards... “Summer was fantastic and the opportunity arose to open a second store. We launch ourselves into the adventure again” and so on. opened a second store in Correjería, 4.
La Postalera: the most beautiful souvenirs from the heart of Valencia to the rest of the world
THE POSTCARDS OF THE POSTAL
“La Postalera is a postcard made of emotion” . That the name of the store itself is taken from its flagship product is not trivial. The idea of this space arose from that very thing, of postcards that create beautiful memories of the city . But there is more. “ La Postalera is an experience in itself . It is to communicate again from a place in the world with a special loved one for us and it is the joy of that recipient to receive the postcard from him, ”they affirm.
It only takes a glance at such audacious creations to realize that we are dealing with something overflowing with talent. From those they have designed themselves, to those they have made in collaboration with artists. In them we see Valencia as we have never seen it . From a fallera with tattooed oranges, to a family enjoying a paella. They have managed to capture what makes the city famous, from a modern and very attractive perspective. “ Illustration allows you everything . It's not like a photo. You can draw a building on top of water and you can do many things that other disciplines would not allow you. David van der Veen works with a very specific color palette, he doesn't use straight lines... Between the two of us we developed crazy ideas that have become postcards ”, points Adolfo.
The Bic pen strokes of iconic buildings such as the North Station or the Central Market of Jack Jury , a colorful scene from the Cabañal de louis demano , the plants of the Botànic made art by the hand of Adrian Teruel Ortega or a grandfather making paella with his grandson, the work of Asis Percalles.
Postcards from La Postalera
THE ROMANCE OF RECEIVING A HANDWRITTEN LETTER
How long has it been since we received postcards? Both La Postalera stores have something special, Let's Write , a space to write the postcard right there. And not only write it, but you can buy the stamp and put it in a mailbox from the store itself . “In our projects, I have always looked for a common element, nostalgia. For example, in the part of the wedding photography studio, we refused to make digital albums, we defended photography on paper, the one of a lifetime. That was a blow to the table that had to be defended. That nostalgic point of old photography worked wonderfully, because it is something that is rarely offered”, explains Adolfo and continues “when we developed the theme of postcards, we gave it a lot of thought to create a writing area. We wanted to offer an experience: choose the postcard, write it and send it, all from the same space . In fact, in the second store we gave much more importance to this area, with two tables in the upper part”.
NOT JUST POSTCARDS
And not only postcards, because these illustrations were applied in the classic souvenir supports: magnets, cups, sheets, fans, tote bags, notebooks, coasters...
The world of design souvenirs soon reached other areas, such as jewelry, ceramics, textiles... “We also work with many external creators, who can carry out products that we do not have the capacity to cover. We start with artisans and artists from Valencia , but it fell short and now we work with many from all over the country”, says Adolfo López.
They themselves contact many and also receive hundreds of requests to sell these products in their stores, both physical and online. “What we want is for there to be joy and color in the store. That the people with whom we work, do it with good vibes” and most importantly “ that the tourist who comes, has the opportunity to take a souvenir from Spain, which does not necessarily have the word Valencia implicit”.
In La Postalera, in addition, they sell mitumi jewelry with very Valencian motifs such as oranges, lemons or orange blossoms, ceramics for the table from firms such as Eugenia Boscá or Doiy or pieces for decoration of Temple, Flora Veiga, Tánata or the Japanese Matsuo Takashi.
Valencia is beautiful. Valencia is light. Valencia is colour. Valencia is modern ... And here they tell their history and their present and offer you the opportunity to take home a little piece of their talent and expertise.
Dogs are welcome in La Postalera