insulation for traditional buildings and have even found their way into kitchens. The latter usage was the brainchild of chef David Grussaute, of the Michelin-starred UNIC restaurant in Ibiza, which serves a respectful, zero-kilometre cuisine, as Mediterranean as it is French. He has been on the island for 26 years and his recipes are born from inspirations such as bringing “a walk through the pine forest” to the table: “We work with the needle, the pineapple, the bark and the pine nuts to make a dessert”. This is how he came across Posidonia as an ingredient, when a member of his team told him about the custom of wrapping potatoes in the plant, thus changing their flavour. Experimenting with infusing it with red prawns, he came up with a “Mediterranean or Ibizan dashi with Posidonia”, which is the signature dish at his restaurant. David points out that he collects the plant after storms, and never pulls it up because “it would go against our principles”. Lamps and sculptures made with posidonia In more recent art and crafts, posidonia plays a role which is aesthetic, but also awareness-raising. One of the pioneers is Antonio Villanueva, the octogenarian artist from Toledo who, after stints in Paris, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and New York, settled definitively in Ibiza in 1977. Through paint-ings, engravings, sculptures and installations, he has devoted the last quarter century to disseminating the importance of the plant, with pieces such as his posidonia and resin sculp-tures. One of his most outstanding works from this period is Anchor on Posidonia, a symbol warning of the damage to the site caused by anchoring. The Argentinian artist Sol Courreges, with two shops on Formentera, is also dedicated to recycling “things that others thought were rubbish” which come from the sea, from tins to Posidonia itself, which she uses to make pieces such as ear-rings or decorative boxes. She was one of the protagonists of the most recent Son Estrella Galicia Posidonia festival with a mural made from these remains. LOOP, the design and circu-larity platform that each year presents various projects with reused materials, such as the Posidonia lamps by Cati Marí Forteza, also explores the same theme. Within the field of craftsmanship, Enric Majoral created his most classic collection in 2001, the minimalist and sinuous Posidonia, inspired by its shapes and made with noble mate-rials such as white gold and silver. Meanwhile, Elisa Pomar, a direct descendant of the most renowned Ibizan lineage of jewellers, is inspired by island traditions (such as local payés dances) and has brought the shapes of the plant into dialogue with currents and other underwater creatures, as in her emblematic, twisted Posidonia ring. “Posidonia is as important as the air we breathe, even though we don’t realise it”, says the artist. Protecting this underwater treasure is vital. IBIZA IBIZA © Joyas Elisa Pomar Piezas de Elisa Pomar // Pieces by Elisa Pomar © Joyas Mayoral Colección Posidonia del artesano Enric Majoral. // The Posidonia collection by the artisan Enric Majoral. IBIZA Vuelos // Flights: Arranca la temporada grande de Ibiza, por eso Air Europa dispone de tres vuelos al día entre la isla y la ciudad de Madrid. // Ibiza’s big sea-son is getting underway, which is why Air Europa has three flights a day between the island and the city of Madrid. www.aireuropa.com