Oct 15, 2024
Dolli's World: With Trobat and Trobar, It is All About the Find.
- By
Blaire Dessent
Dolli's World: With Trobat and Trobar, It is All About the Find.
Oct 15, 2024
by
Blaire Dessent
Dolli's World: With Trobat and Trobar, It is All About the Find.
Oct 15, 2024
by
Blaire Dessent
Dolli's World: With Trobat and Trobar, It is All About the Find.
Oct 15, 2024
- By
Blaire Dessent
Dolli's World: With Trobat and Trobar, It is All About the Find.
Oct 15, 2024
- By
Blaire Dessent
sustainability
Dolli's World: With Trobat and Trobar, It is All About the Find.
Oct 15, 2024
- By
Blaire Dessent
Place setting at Trobar Gastronomy
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ustralian-born entrepreneur Dolli Taylor opened Trobar, a bar, restaurant, shop and gallery with her partner Fabio Donghi, in September of 2023. The quirky, in all the best ways, three-level space sits on an unassuming corner in Cala Ratjada, among the many concrete buildings that reflect the beach town’s history as a popular tourist destination since the late 1960s. But for Taylor, choosing this unexpected location is exactly on point. The former fashion publicist has an intuitive sense for seeing the potential in something – whether that is a ceramic vase or a destination restaurant. Trobar is actually the second business Taylor has launched since arriving on the island, about five-years ago. Her first project is Trobat, a digital concept store and art gallery, that reflects Taylor’s keen eye for discovery. After arriving to the northeast of Mallorca to be with her partner, the pandemic hit and Taylor was feeling a bit lost. As a distraction, and as a personal passion, she started buying small pieces of art online and sharing them on social media, quickly establishing a following of people wanting to know more about the work and where to find it. “I have always been a collector. It comes from my parents, who were both super creative and my father, who was an obsessive collector,” explains Taylor. Trobat is the Catalan term for ‘to find’ and that is exactly what the website became, her unique finds. “I was never buying art that was crazy expensive or crazy well-known because I've always liked the underdog. I've always liked to promote the underdog, because I find it is much more interesting. That is my passion and I thought, I'm just going to launch an online shop and start with the artists that I already have bought pieces from and make it about my collection, because I'm not an art expert, I'm a collector.”

Trobar Rooftop
Trobasement
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eeling the need for an in-person experience, at the tailend of Covid, she made a weekend long pop up event, taking over a finca in Costa dels Pins, filling it with artwork and serving food, wine and hosting creative experiences. Over 800-people turned up. “I realised that there was a need for something like this on the island. A place where we could create a permanent universe that would bring people who maybe want good food and drinks and then see the art and decide to buy something or come for the art and stay for drinks and dinner.” After a first offer on a townhouse in Santanyi fell through, she happened upon a for-rent sign on a building she’d passed numerous times in Cala Ratjada, but had not quite seen before. When she called the owners, she saw that they were clients of the online shop, surely a sign that this was to be the place. Taylor notes that the space itself really pushed her to do the bar and restaurant, seeing the potential of what it could be. Keeping on brand with Trobat, Trobar, is in many ways, that hidden gem, something you find and seek out, and then want to keep coming back to. 

Each part of the three-level space is conceived in its own unique way based on the layout and her ideas around establishing a décor that suits it best. “Every day I would come into the construction site and hand draw shapes and curves and say, this is for the stairwell, this is for the ceiling.” It was a very personal process, from the colours to designing the plates to opening up little niche spaces. 

"Mallorca definitely opened me up to my own creativity. The environment and the community created a shift and gave me the opportunity to start this idea and create my vision.”
Trobar Gastronomy
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