This is Philippe Starck's striking new organic olive oil mill and 'experience' in Ronda

Philippe Starck's organic olive oil mill in Ronda is practically a reality. The company LA Organic and investors linked to it have completed work on the second phase of the project focused on olive oil tourism, christened LA Organic Experience. The first phase, which has already opened to the public, is located on a 26-hectare estate just 2.5 kilometres from Ronda, next to the road leading to Campillos.

Stage One provides several 'experiences': a short walking gastro tour through olive groves, vineyards and fruit trees dotted with works by Starck, plus oil tastings and, if you wish for more, there is accommodation to stay a little longer, have a picnic and the possibility of participating in the process of making this liquid gold (maybe harvesting, milling, bottling or designing a label), even sponsoring an olive tree, among other activities. The second stage belongs to the bull, as Starck calls his ecological oil mill, the first of its kind in the world as its sponsors point out, a kind of a cube, an avant-garde building, with the protruding horn of a bull, the eye of Picasso and an olive on its façades. The inside consists of three floors with a museum space, a restaurant with terrace, and all its own machinery for the production of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), among other facilities.

The private investment has exceeded 20 million euros to deliver both stages thus far. The first stone of the mill was laid in October 2021 and building work has been carried out by Ormetec Obras y Servicios, S.L., which belongs to the Caorza Group, from Ronda. Its construction generated 160 direct jobs and 825 indirect jobs and the start-up of business operations will involve around 50 direct jobs and over 250 indirect jobs.

This oil mill has been modelled on the Marqués de Riscal winery, designed by Frank O. Gehry, like the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, but this takes the project from the world of wine to the world of oil. Santiago Muguiro, director of LA Organic, stated that opening to the public is planned for the second half of October and that the forecast for visitor numbers is around 40,000 per year. "The construction has been very complicated, the project on paper seemed very simple, but in the execution there have been elements that have made us consider even cancelling the project," said Muguiro, speaking of the delay that has mounted up around this project.

He mentioned all the tourist-related developments happening in Ronda with several major projects under way: the Camino del Desfiladero del Tajo gorge walk, the two hotels run by the Catalonia hotels group that will be the first five-star hotels in the town, not forgetting the Meliá and Summum hotel projects. He made special mention of Pedro Gómez de Baeza, the former president of LA Organic, who passed away recently. "He was three weeks away from seeing the project come together, we want to dedicate it to him."

The visit to the mill will begin on the first floor of the building, where there is an exhibition area that tells the history of olive oil, its importance and its links with the land thereabouts, with panels and videos and a display of various pieces related to the industry. There are also references to Ronda's culture and a large-format painting of Pedro Romero painted by Goya. The bullfighting references continue with a large rapier on one of the walls of the cube and a large tube, shaped like a bull's horn, which ends in a hopper on the first floor through which visitors can see how the olives arrive for processing. Down in the basement, all set up with see-through panels, is where the machinery for making the liquid gold will operate.

Also on display is a large-format, AI-generated portrait (few images in his time) of Abbás Ibn Firnás, a scientist from Ronda who flew with a device he built himself some 600 years before Leonardo Da Vinci. He is considered the father of aviation. Thanks to the collaboration of Antonio Acedo del Olmo, who supported this work, the contraption with which this wise man flew for ten minutes has been recreated.

On the first floor there is the oil mill, which has another bull's horn on the ceiling and a large canvas by Starck's daughter, with a farmer, birds, Ronda's Puente Nuevo (its most famous, gorge-spanning bridge) and the bullring, among others. Also there is the restaurant, shop, a multi-purpose room and a large cantilevered terrace with views of the landscape that is held up by old anchor chains from ships. In the centre of this floor is the aforementioned hopper. There are two chimneys and the smoke will exit through Picasso's eye, leaving its mark, something Starck wanted to capture.

This olive oil mill is the Frenchman's third creation in Spain, following his works in Puerto Adriano in Mallorca and La Alhóndiga (Azkuna Zentroa in Basque) in Bilbao.