Carles Codina
For Carles Codina, executive pastry chef at the Hotel Four Seasons Madrid, pastry was not always the goal. In his initial work as a chef, he found pastry very challenging, and that his creations never came out as they were intended. He was therefore inspired to train in pastry and perfect his skills – and that is where FERRANDI Paris came in.
Following advice from a friend who recommended FERRANDI Paris ‘above any other school’, Carles packed his bags and moved to Paris from Spain, enrolled in the Intensive Professional Program in French Pastry in September 2012, and never looked back.
According to Carles, his intensive pastry training at FERRANDI Paris was ‘a great opportunity to learn from the best’, with a memorable highlight of the programme being his participation in a ‘réligieuse competition judged by world-renowned pastry chef, Philippe Conticini. As the name of the programme suggests, its intensive approach allowed Carles to make a lot of progress and learn a lot of techniques in a short amount of time. He has continued to learn and develop his skills throughout his career, and attributes his impressive progress to the quality of the training he recieved at FERRANDI Paris.
Following his 5-month intensive training period at FERRANDI Paris, Carles then embarked on the next step of his pastry adventure : a 6-month internship at the Mandarin Oriental, a five-star hotel in the very heart of Paris. Suffice it to say, it was up and up from that point on !
Returning to Spain, he began work as a chef de partie at the Mandarin Oriental Barcelona, before taking a position in charge of pastry at the 3 Michelin Star restaurant Sant Pau. After returning to Paris for a stint at the George V Four Seasons Hotel, he had the opportunity to work in Barcelona under the 2011 World Champion of Pastry, Josep Maria Rodriguez.
And today ? Far from staying in his comfort zone, Carles is working on the opening of a brand new luxury hotel – Four Seasons Madrid – as executive pastry chef. He describes his work as « not always easy » - he has had to learn a lot in a short amount of time, including the more managerial aspects of pastry – but he believes that hard work and motivation pay off, and lead you on to bigger projects. The message he wishes to pass on, to potential students of FERRANDI Paris, is that no matter your age, you can have a great future in the pastry industry – and the training as well as varied and exciting internship opportunities offered by FERRANDI Paris will help you to achieve that.