Alejandro Muguerza is a creator of experiences and a leading figure in event design and haute cuisine. President and founder of Le Basque Catering & Productions. He combines staging, service, and signature cuisine to construct sensory narratives. Cosmopolitan with Basque roots, his signature style blends tradition, precision, and contemporary elegance.
What was the first event you did?
“For the Princess Margaret Foundation in London in 1991.
As a company for the Fifth Centennial of the Discovery of America with the three caravels in the Bay of Miami with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the USA and Hispanic Heritage. 300 people daily for five days.”
What learnings from your Basque roots remain present in your daily work?
“Very much present is the care us Basques have for the product and its quality, and to highlight the flavour without disguises.”
How do you adapt protocol and style when working with other cultures?
“I learned protocol from a very young age at home, between Palm Beach, NY, Mexico, witnessing spectacular evenings behind the scenes. Also by partnering from day one with Ian M. Perris, who has the best résumé in service worldwide. When I met him in 1991 he had already worked at Althorp House coordinating all aspects of English service for royal dinners, ambassadors… Then he went on to the Mansion House where all of London’s official events are held. Later he managed the estate of Lady Jacob Rothschild until she died, and then he took on the most complicated and luxurious residence or embassy in the world, Winfield House in the middle of Regent’s Park, the official residence of the American ambassador to the Court of St James.
When we started, if the Duke of Marlborough came to the Bahamas or Florida, they demanded and begged that he take charge and coordinate all their services. It is a luxury to have such partners.
I am the creative part of the production and gastronomic direction process, working alongside our wonderful executive chef and the multitude of staff at his service.”
What trends interest you in event design and in cuisine for events?
“I will never follow trends. I believe that when you introduce a trend into your repertoire you yourself stop being original and become a trend. In our case, the trend is the day we design and execute an event like haute couture adapted to the place and occasion and client—and afterward it becomes the past and we go for another creation that impresses and looks nothing like what you’ve seen elsewhere.”
What external sources inspire you?
“I am inspired by the curiosity one has about the world, and by a deep knowledge of history—both art history and geopolitics—and the use of celebrations and receptions to, and as, a weapon to resolve matters.”
What is your dream event that you have not yet realized?
“They all end up being a dream if the proposal is worthy and the setting. I would love to give a Ball at Versailles for the French heritage foundation or something with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in the Thermae of Caracalla. Who dares?”
A book you especially recommend?
“A book for lovers of the good life: the memoirs of the Baron de Rede and Café Society by Daisy de Cabrol. For reading: Memoirs of Hadrian.”
What place in the world would you like to travel with your Friulane shoes on?
“I would travel with my Friulane on in the villas of Andrea Palladio in the Veneto. I’ve done that many times before but not with the Friulane which I never tire of.
If not Istanbul, which I already know. But as come il faut in Villa Divina on the Bosphorus.”
