We talked to him about the values behind his projects, how Mo de Movimiento was born and how this philosophy of life has been applied at Tramo, which recently won a Michelin Green Star.
Felipe Turell is not easy to classify: he doesn’t come from the world of gastronomy, nor does he come from the world of design or interior design. He trained in business but talking to him you don’t get the full sense that he is a business person either. Or yes, but he hides it well. He likes many fields and conveys a certain desire not to focus on just one.
Together with Javier Antequera, you founded Proyectos Conscientes. How did this company based on collaborative experimentation come about? What role does innovation play?
We collaborate with profiles that add value and are interesting for the user, but in our models we always work with a matrix format where everyone has the capacity to make decisions. In other words, you are the one who designs the lighting, it’s your area, but I also give you feedback. Sometimes this creates tension for us.
In 2018 the first fruit of Proyectos Conscientes was born: Mo de Movimiento. What were you looking for?
When I have been asked what were the moments that made me change to do what we have done, I don’t know what to answer because many things have happened throughout my life. But I was influenced by my time in Amsterdam five years ago, at the school where I trained. For six months I changed my approach to entrepreneurship. There was a series of inputs that I had in that school that made me shape something that I had in my head, but that had no order. It was disjointed information. This is how Conscious Projects was born in July 2018, an umbrella company for the whole company. Basically, the purpose was to provide responsible consumption alternatives in cities. In other words, to ensure that your spending generates an impact on society.
Space of the Mo de Movimiento restaurant. Editorial credit: Machado Muñoz.
I think what I can take credit for is having brought together very powerful profiles with a lot of talent capable of understanding something abstract that we had in our heads and being able to put it into practice. In the end we worked with a very theoretical impact model and its execution was complex. I wouldn’t have known how to do it on my own.
After its success, you created Tramo a year ago. What values do the two projects share and how do they differ?
What is common to all the projects we are going to do, as far as we go, is the system of thinking. We developed that system between 2018 and 2020 and it has helped us make decisions in all areas. It contains a series of values that are drivers for decision making. We work with three pillars: people, planet and productivity. I understand them as three communicating vessels and we try to seek a balance between the three, because if you benefit one, you harm the other.
What is different is the result, which is connected, but because the process is the same. Tramo has a Mo de Movimiento apprenticeship. And the apprenticeship has helped us to introduce some layers of value.
Trout, smoked porrusalda and dill, a Tramo dish. Editorial credit: Conscious Projects.
For me, the 20th century is a century of results and the 21st century is a time to understand processes. Today it is more important where the asparagus on the plate comes from than whether the plate is pretty. It is much more important where things come from and who makes them and why.
‘What is common in all the projects we are going to do, as far as we go, is the system of thinking’.
A priori there is a common challenge in both: transforming the city. How are you doing it? What difficulties do you encounter?
The idea of transforming the city is too big. We are doing our bit in a humble way. We try to do projects that perhaps contribute prisms or angles that have never been seen before. I don’t think there are projects as transversal as ours. You try to make it a point of reference or open up a path that was not there before.
We have developed supply chains without waste, which have also been transferred to other clients who have asked us to do so. That is impact for us.
Prawn, avocado and tomato tartar, a Tramo dish. Editorial credit: Proyectos Conscientes.
However, the hospitality sector in Madrid is very conservative and I don’t know how much they love us today. We are not very well supported by the sector. I think there are some difficulties because you are opening a path that does not exist. It is very difficult to transfer your informal value proposition; it is one of our challenges. We have a reference case of success, which is La Fageda. They never communicated the social impact they were generating, it was simply known.
We communicate, but we don’t put that much value on it because we don’t want anyone to come to our projects because they are sensitised to the social impact we have. So it’s very difficult because if you don’t communicate proactively, the end client sometimes doesn’t perceive what’s going on: they just go to the site, eat well, pay a fair price and leave. It seems to me that we could generate much more impact if we had been working on that. The product we sell is irrelevant. What is relevant is everything that comes before.
‘The 20th century is a century of results and the 21st century is a time to understand processes. Today it is more important where the asparagus on the plate comes from than whether the dish is pretty’.
Tramo has consolidated our proposal as a company. It now has a solidity that was recognised a fortnight ago by the Michelin Guide, which in the end is a terribly conservative distinction and which has distinguished nine projects in Spain with the Green Star.
Interior of the Tramo restaurant, designed by Selgascano and Andreu Carulla. Editorial credit: Juan Baraja.
Rethinking urban space would seem impossible without your extensive network of collaborators. What parallels do you see between collaborative work and the future of cities?
When we talk about regeneration, it’s not just what we’ve been talking about now about regenerative agriculture or regenerative livestock farming, but also about spaces and regenerating neighbourhoods.
I think the artist is the one who experiments without any kind of pressure. He is capable of imagining things that are impossible. At Mo we had Lucas Muñoz, who is a product designer, although I see him as more of an artist. He was capable of imagining unimaginable things. What was done had no aesthetic references. It was a whole system of thought that generated processes and led to a result. It seems to me that to do things that have never been done before, you need collaboration.
Tramo has plenty of natural light and is designed with sustainable materials. Editorial credit: Juan Baraja.
You recently won a Michelin Green Star for Tramo. What does this recognition mean to you?
For me it is more motivational than anything else. What the star brings is reputation. For me the green distinction is a distinction that rewards a project, not a chef. The Green Star is sensitivity.
‘We have developed waste-free supply chains, which have also been passed on to other clients who have asked us to do so. That is impact for us.’
One of the bases of the project is your support for small local producers. What are these synergies that promote the circular economy like?
65% of the suppliers we work with are direct producers. The relationship is very important. We pay practically in real time and we are open to generating this type of relationship so that producers do not suffer. This is how you generate a relationship of honesty and trust; also of commitment. Of all the producers we started working with four and a half years ago now, I think we have only stopped working with one and that is because it merged with another company and became something that is not what we wanted.
Artichokes from Tudela confit in EVOO from Cuenca and honey, by Mo de Movimiento. Editorial credit: Proyectos Conscientes.
In what ways do you put this more conscious and slower life into practice in your daily life?
We founded Conscious Projects because it was what I wanted to be. I try to learn from the company; it’s funny. It’s much better the company we have than me on a personal level.
Do you love the countryside or are you more of a city person?
I was born in the countryside: I spent 10 years of my life in Extremadura. I sometimes explain this, because people don’t know what it means to me. At one point, my parents said we had to go to Madrid. For me Madrid was ETA, bombs and attacks. I remember crying every night and my parents freaked out, but obviously you get used to it. And today I’ll tell you that I’m quite an urban person, but I often tell my wife that I need the countryside, the weekend, to breathe… I like the hybrid of living in a city where a lot of things happen so that you can go to the countryside. It seems ideal to me.
‘65% of the suppliers we work with are direct producers. The relationship is very important.’
Do you have any reference in the restaurant world that is aligned with your principles of sustainability?
The only reference that I find interesting is a guy in Copenhagen. His name is Christian Puglisi and he has a project called Relæ Community. However, I think it’s more romantic than real because in Denmark it’s difficult to grow vegetables. But the idea is very powerful.
In gastronomy, food waste is a big problem. Do you have any projects to prevent food waste?
I always say that we are not the best at anything, but we are good in all areas. What happens is that we cover so many small things that it is difficult for us to push a lot in one area. We generate little waste, but we are not the best at it, although we are working on it.
Roasted Toledo beetroot hummus with homemade ‘pitaccia’ with a long fermentation of more than 48 hours, by Mo de Movimiento. Editorial credit: Proyectos Conscientes.
Do you think the end consumer values these traceability processes that you are applying?
I don’t have metrics that measure the people who come to our spaces because of this, but I do perceive that the consumer values it more and more and is able to pay more for it.
I think that when we talked about Mo de Movimiento we did generate a trend that was strong in Madrid, but in the end 80% of the people who came thought exactly the same. ‘I come here, I like the space, you can eat at 25 or 30 euros for an amazingly good product’. It’s true that with Tramo I think the company’s discourse has been raised and that society is a little more prepared. Consumers are changing, but they don’t change from one year to the next; it takes time.
What is the future of gastronomy? Will people eat less meat because of the contamination of livestock?
I don’t know what the future of food will be, but I don’t think it will be eating less meat. It might be to reduce meat consumption and to eat a certain type of meat. We work with regenerative livestock, which capture more CO2 than they generate. I don’t believe in ultra-processed vegetable protein. It seems to me that there is a lot of misinformation and that we need to go much deeper. We think that lettuce is sustainable and meat is not.
‘I try to learn from the company I founded; it’s funny. It’s much better the company I have than me on a personal level.’
The question would be: which fish and which meat? That is the only approach. I don’t believe in all the ultra-processing where the raw materials come from China and Argentina. I am not saying that this trend does not exist and that it will last for a long time, because you have to feed 10 billion people. However, I do believe in a much more 200 year old based diet.
I believe in holistic cattle management, with a methodology developed by a guy from Zimbabwe called Allan Savory.
We work with Celtic cows in Avila, 67 kilometres away from Madrid, and I would rather eat that meat than bring soya from Argentina. It is a livestock farm that is certified to capture more CO2 than it generates, works in holistic, rotational management, changes cows every three days, everything is organic and feeds the grass all year round, at 1,100 metres above sea level. What happens is that I am aware that it is very difficult to feed 10,000 people like this.
We also work with sea bass from the Canary Islands raised in the middle of the sea, with trout from the Pyrenees, with organic caviar from Granada and prawns from Medina del Campo. I’m not saying it has to be the only way; it’s just the way we want.
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The more personal side…
One artist
Pablo Palazuelo.
Do you collect anything?
Souvenirs.
A country you would go back to 100 times
Namibia.
A pending trip
Bhutan.
A daily habit
Giving my son a kiss every night.
A hobby
Travelling.
A colour
Blue.
