Adapting to the stages through which the world of photography passes, Fujifilm does not stop joining and, above all, contributing to the changes by providing its experience. In one of the sectors that most quickly entered digitalization, Fujifilm has tried to go one step ahead so as not to miss the innovation train. Barcelona has not been left out of this strategy and
the Japanese multinational has fostered photographic culture in the cityfrom the corporate headquarters for Spain, located on Aragó street, and from the Wonder Photo Shop establishment, on Gran de Gràcia street. If first it was the transition from analog to digital systems, from negative development to the printing of digital photographs, now it is the turn of
to give visibility to the social impact that photography has. And to show it, the Japanese brand has just remodeled its headquarters and store, with a joint investment of more than 1.5 million euros. A quarter of the resources will be allocated to
the opening of a multidisciplinary space on the ground floor of Wonder Photo Shop---a surface that until now served as a warehouse--- that wants to connect with "Barcelona and its people by offering them, free of charge, an exhibition area, a small auditorium that can serve for presentations by specialized photographers and great local figures of photography, and a set for
photocallor studio photographs for professionals and
amateurs. In short, we want to bring our photographic culture closer by linking it to society and the city," explains Eduardo López, Director of Imaging and Recording Media at Fujifilm Spain. The company is already working on the programming because it wants to have the space finished after the summer. It has an agreement
the exhibition Dalí in his Theater-Museum seen by Meli, a display of a selection of ten photographs taken by Melitó Casals, Meli, which present the artist from Empordà at various moments in the creative process of his last great work: the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, built on the remains of the old municipal theatre, in whose rehabilitation and intervention the artist was involved since 1961. Among the purposes for giving flight to the new cultural center, they also weigh the projection of initiatives such as the one photojournalist Santi Palacios launched during covid with the project
Covid file, which sought to make visible a difficult-to-document reality in which the journalistic industry only published a tiny fraction of the images produced by professionals.
The Wonder Photo Shop is a space that allows users to be creative with their photographs and get the most out of them. The investment in the multidisciplinary space is the second phase of the store's remodeling, which was completed this year. The establishment opened in October 2015 as the first in Europe within the global Wonder Photo Shop project, which the multinational launched in Tokyo a year earlier. If at that time the choice was to elevate photography to the level of creativity, design, and technology to offer adequate solutions to the user, now in 2022 it encompasses everything from the most advanced digital camera technologies to the most efficient and environmentally friendly photographic printing systems. Without forgetting
analog photography "for which young people are showing interest again. We are selling a significant volume of film again", assures Eduardo López. "Photography is a sector with a lot of resilience and stores have been transforming with a more inspiring proposal for the final customer", with workshops and virtual activities, for example, explains López.
Eduardo López, director of Imaging and Recording Media at Fujifilm Spain. With a workforce of 160 people in Spain, Fujifilm has renovated its headquarters on Aragó street, to show where its growth strategy in new business areas is heading, "without neglecting photography, which will always be our DNA". The multinational wants to position itself with a new Graphic Systems structure, which now includes graphic communication businesses, which will account for 47% of Fujifilm Group's global volume. The other two major business areas, healthcare solutions (Healthcare) and the Imaging area ---which includes optical devices, digital cameras and photographic printing--- account for 40% and 13% of the total activity, respectively.
Fujifilm has an area at its corporate headquarters in Spain, in Barcelona, where it showcases the latest advances of the Japanese brand in all business divisions. A sector based in BarcelonaEduardo López recalls that photography was born about 150 years ago in France and entered Spain through Barcelona:
"The city has always maintained a specific weight in the sector, which has found in various local entities and associations a showcase to make itself known". As an example, last year saw the creation of Eufoto, the state-wide association based in Barcelona that brings together for the first time all actors in the photographic sector: distributors, material manufacturers, resellers, photographers, photography stores, online and offline laboratories, and educational centers. "We will fight for and for the sector, to promote innovation in the field of photography, as well as to give relevance to the economic, social, and institutional role of a sector that represents more than 800 million euros annually and directly employs 13,000 professionals," concludes López.