Mercadito Pop: Hábitat para una economía creativa
A Bolivian design object documenting over a decade of creative economy in La Paz. It's a cultural object that first captivates the eye, then immediately asks to be touched, felt, and smelled. Only after that does it invite you to browse, read, and scan with your gaze.
The book holds our collective memory since 2012, materialized in a gallery of photos and graphic art from Mercadito POP's events. After taking in the images and discovering Bolivian brands, a third act weaves in a series of reflective essays on creative economy, design, cultural management, entrepreneurship, and the environment.
In 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the book was selected by the Ibero-American Design Biennial in Madrid.
Design and production
Graphic design was led by Eloísa Paz, Rebeca Paz, Leonardo Pantoja, and Amanda Luque. Special finishes — the cover and endpapers, the bookmark, stamps illustrated by Lulhy Cardozo, and the foldout poster illustrated by Leo Pantoja — were printed using water-based screen printing. The pop-up art inserted at the center of the book was assembled by Marion Macedo.
The reflective essays were written by Lala Deheizelin, Militza Bedoya, Galo Coca, Cecilia Lampo, Claudia Hinojosa, Raquel Schwartz, Susana Mahicao, and Claudia Pérez. In the introduction, Gabriela Durán tells the story of Mercadito POP.
SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS
Screen printing was done at Estudio Dos Serigrafía; offset printing at Artes Gráficas Sagitario. The paper is 100% recycled, the offset inks use ecoprint technology, and the screen-printing inks are water-based.
Co-FUNDING
This book was co-funded by Mercadito POP's community of brands, FOCUART (La Paz's Autonomous Municipal Government), and the now-defunct Urban Interventions Program of the Ministry of Development Planning.
COMPANION 2022
"Mercadito POP: Habitat for a Creative Economy" was printed in November 2019. Its launch was delayed multiple times due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the reactivation of cultural spaces in La Paz, Bolivia.
That's why, in October 2022, a companion insert was printed for the book: a narrative tracing what happened between the original printing date and the present. This insert includes a QR code that connects the reader to a new stage of digital content publishing, available on this website.
