About us

Nordest is a small company which provides services to museums and cultural institutions with a team that, under the direction of Joan Ramon Aromí, brings more than 40 years of experience in the museum services market.

We offer creative alternatives for exhibitions, museography, preventive conservation or design, based on the accumulated expertise, the knowledge of the institutions, the materials and the challenges that could arise. We coordinate and manage projects, always keeping the role of process facilitators among all the agents involved.

We are a Barcelona-based company which works throughout Catalonia. We also have an international profile as a project manager with endeavors in the Middle East or India, in collaboration with institutions such as UNESCO, Qatar National Library and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.

Our team is versatile, able to adapt to any situation and requested need. We are experts in packaging, transport, handling, and objects installation. We design and produce unique elements like showcases, tailored supports, frames, etc. As an operations manager, Nordest coordinates projects, teams, and strategic plans.

We approach each project integrally, in a craftsmanship way, following each entity individually, advising and contributing with our experience.

Joan Ramon Aromí

Director

Museology and museography cannot be understood without a mediator, a negotiator, an advisor, a facilitator and a team capable of transmuting and empathizing with all the actors involved. NORDEST borns with this desire, to be located right in the space where projects are transformed into realities.

Consultor. Aromi, Cultural Consultant

September 2011– January 2014

More than 30 years of work that I love in a sector in which I believe, can give a certain perspective to know how to situate myself in these times of uncertainty. Yesterday’s patterns no longer work, new models are created and they do not wait for anyone, or you participate or you disappear.

Director. Cultural Sense

May 2002– September 2011

Cultural Sense is basically consolidated thanks to the “la Caixa” Foundation, which relies on a work-oriented team. The economic boom allows us to properly structure the various services offered. I learned to understand the company as a platform for personal and professional growth for all. I understood the social responsibility of the company.

Dirección. Mètode, Sistemes de Conservació i Exhibició

1993–2001

From the closing of Sistema, Construcciones Singulares S.L., Metode, Conservation and Exhibition Systems is born. The concept of service families as a competitive strategy is incorporated. This model has subsequently been used by the sector.

Probably one of the most interesting technical contributions was the first incorporation of the biological activity control service through inert gases to control the attack of xylophages, bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms. Shin Maekawa and Nieves Valentin were my teachers. We made the first inert gas showcase in Europe for the mummy “Nesi” and still maintain the oxygen values below 10ppm. We would have an R&D department. I participate in Rome in the first conference of the European Union of Cultural Heritage for small and medium-sized business. The collaboration with the architect Joan Sibina in the last stage is enriching and probably unique. “Nothing is forever” Toni Ramon dixit.

Coordination of the Departament of Art Handling “Art System”. SISTEMA, Construcciones Singulares

1991–1993

Returning from the United States, José Luis Vergara (Panorama) made the bid to propos to create the Department of Art Handling. For the first time in Spain a company dedicated to the design and production of exhibitions opens a department specialized in the handling of art. The best interventions were at the Catalonia Pavilion in Seville and the exhibition “The Andalusian Scientific Legacy” at the Archaeological Museum of Madrid. The first Art in Transit preventative conservation protocols were apply. Little mummy Nesi received an Argon continuous flow treatment pending production of the first inert gas showcase to be performed in Europe.

Service manager. Terry Dowd Inc

1989–1991

First at Denver University (Co) as a guest artist, then in Chicago (Il) sharing a studio with Wayne Kyecka. At Terry Dowd Inc. I learned the acting protocols in front of artists, collectors, directors, new rich, gallery owners, dealers… improvisation is not accepted, everything has to be planned.

One of the best experiences was being responsible for the transport of Sara Lee Corporation Impressionist Collection, driving the trailer, or when we picked up the pieces for auction at Sotheby’s at a Ford mansion in Detroit.

Sculptor. Plastic artist

1980–1990

Beginning of the Biology degree at UB; I would have liked to work in work-field and laboratory. The visit to a potter from Granollers provoked a vision that will remain alive for the next 10 years.

During this period I learned about processes and languages. The co-creation of Trajecte, Associació per a la Recerca Artística in Terrassa, put us on a demanding periphery.

Before I left for the USA I would lift the oven around the piece, I was interested in the corners, the walls, the ceilings…