Spain’s Vintage Furniture Mecca
I Love Retro at Charmatín in Madrid
For the second time, Madrid hosted the biggest vintage furniture fair in Spain last weekend at the Chamartín train station.
I Love Retro is Spain’s answer to the booming vintage markets and fairs held in other major European cities like London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. It’s become the place to be for lovers of Spanish vintage design furniture.
The fair was such a huge success last year that it’s returned even bigger the second time around.
In all, 130 merchants came together to offer a huge variety of fantastic decoration objects you would normally only find by wandering through all the hidden antique shops in Madrid with an insider guide.
Many of the merchants also offered small items like old cutlery, collector items and other things I would expect to find in a traditional Spanish household.
One of the main reasons for me to visit this retro fair was my interest in traditional Spanish furniture.
As an expat without any Spanish family, I hardly have the chance to have a look into a traditional Spanish household. I imagine it to be rich of traditional decoration pieces typical only in Spain. I Love Retro was therefore a great opportunity to see those kinds of traditional objects the Spanish used to decorate their homes and still do.
Apart from the Spanish stuff, I saw some wonderful pieces from Denmark that I would have loved to take home as well.
My favorite part of the fair was wandering around the recently repainted attic of the Chamartín railway station. The entire space seemed the perfect place to host a retro fair. It has a vintage flair itself and a lot is left of the charm of the historic railway station.
I loved the variety of pieces presented at I Love Retro. Each merchant’s space was decorated like a room of an apartment. There were entire living rooms that looked like you could just sit down, have a coffee and listen to LPs from the 60′s.
After wandering the fair we had a press brunch where we got all the interesting background information about I Love Retro.
I found out that I Love Retro is entirely independent of state money, getting all its financial support from one of the most famous decoration magazines in print, Architectural Digest.
This year, organisers collaborated with Fundación Científica de la Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer, the Spanish research foundation against cancer. Part of the money made at this fair went directly to the foundation.
It was great getting to know the people from the cancer research foundation and to chat with other representatives from the press.
If you’re into the retro scene, it might interest you to know that there will be another retro event next weekend (Nov 1 – 4), but instead of furniture, it will be about fashion. Check Feria de Moda Vintage’s website for more details.
Do you love retro too? Drop me a line in the comments and tell me your favorite retro store, event, etc.
About Martha Lasia
I moved to Madrid in 2010 to work at the Universidad Autonóma. Since then I started to discover the Spanish capital, taught myself Spanish and started my blog, Madrilicious, where I do Street Style Photography and give tips on Madrid and travelling. Since September 2012 I am happy to belong to the team of ¡Vaya Madrid! where I write about Style, Fashion and related subjects.
