Ribbons with streamers everywhere, Jujol wrote on the pencil and watercolour sketches he made in 1909—for a new festival design for Tarragona, Spain. The sketches, now housed in the Barcelona School of Architecture archive, show an innovative and detailed vision for the event, however Jujol never submitted his ideas to the festival committee. Not a careerist, Jujol had some trouble putting himself forward for projects. He saw beauty in almost everything. He would pick up objects in the street, and make things out of cardboard, tins, broken glass and stones. He converted discarded agricultural tools into hinges. In Església del Sagrat Cor, a church Jujol built on a budget in Vistabella, a chandelier is made out of milk tins. He often worked with remnants. The ceramics in the iconic serpentine bench in Güell Park, which he designed under Gaudí, are recycled fragments, as are those on the ceiling of the park’s Hypostyle Room.
On my desk, I have something I made as a child: a cough syrup lid turned into a pail—a feed bucket for my toy horses. I painted it rusty red, and installed a wire handle. I also have a resume typewritten on antique silk adhered to paper and embroidered with folk art motifs. I made it when I applied to a wallpaper company. I got an interview, but I didn’t get the job. In the end, I must not have given the company the strange resume I spent several days making, since I still have it.
-Morgan English