About Us
Can Silvestre is a traditional Catalan farmhouse from 1806, nestled deep in the forest and surrounded by holm and oak trees. Located in Riudarenes, in the province of Girona —just one hour north of Barcelona— it offers a peaceful, off-grid setting for focused creative work and connection with the natural world.
We welcome artists from all disciplines who are seeking time, space, and quiet to immerse themselves in their practice. While the atmosphere supports solitude and introspection, shared meals and informal encounters offer opportunities for dialogue and exchange.
Our Manifesto
For the creators and the thinkers: time softens and the boundaries between art and nature dissolve. The forest becomes your studio, the breeze your soundtrack, and the sun your gentle muse. Creation is not a task, but a way of listening—of letting yourself be shaped as much as you shape. A quiet invitation to slow down, tune in, and let the world around you become part of what you are and what you make.
Our Vision
At Can Silvestre, we envision a world where art grows in harmony with the Earth — where slowing down, listening deeply, and creating in communion with nature becomes a way of life.
Our Mission
To offer artists and creatives the time and space to slow down, listen, and focus deeply on their work —while feeling at home. We foster an environment where solitude and connection coexist, creativity is renewed, and a respectful relationship with the land and culture is at the heart of it all.
Ester founded Can Silvestre in 2024—a project that mirrors the life she had quietly dreamed of living for many years. Tucked deep in the forests of Girona, Can Silvestre is both a return to her roots and an invitation for others to do the same. Born in Barcelona and raised between countries, Ester has traveled the world extensively and worked at the fast pace of big tech, including a career at Google. Yet, the call of nature—the stillness, the birdsong, the silence—was always louder.
Can Silvestre is where that call finally led her: a residency for the creatives and the thinkers, where time slows down and the boundaries between art and nature begin to blur. It is a space to reconnect, create from a place of truth, and rediscover the quiet magic that lives in all of us. For Ester, this project is the most honest expression of who she is—a poetic reminder that beauty is not in things, but in how we choose to look at them them.
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
— H. D. Thoreau