FINANCIAL TIMES
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“It’s a work of art,” says Gary Gautier, standing on the black marble steps of a serpentine staircase inside Barcelona’s Casa Batlló. A silver curtain shimmers behind him, rippling like the scales on a dragon’s back, while beneath his feet the underbelly of the staircase resembles the spinal vertebrae of the mythical beast. Gautier is a member of the Bernat family, who have owned the house designed by the famed Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí since the 1990s. The family have fully restored his masterpiece and as CEO Gautier, 36, is now future-proofing the tourist attraction (and Unesco World Heritage Site), which opened to the public in 2002, by collaborating with creatives such as Japanese architect Kengo Kuma to enhance Gaudí’s vision with “interventions” that will create an immersive experience inside the house.