My story
From bread in the hallways to Felipan
I started baking bread in 2002. More than twenty years later I’m still at it: finding ingredients, testing, getting it wrong, starting over, and sharing what comes out of the oven.
2002 The beginning
I started baking when I became vegetarian, after taking up Raja Yoga meditation with Brahma Kumaris. I had studied a couple of semesters of film at Black María and four semesters of Systems Engineering at Los Andes. I learned to cook in Putumayo, as a volunteer park ranger in La Paya.
But my palate was trained by my family from childhood. My parents always worked in kitchens, and from them I learned independence and entrepreneurship, perseverance and discipline.
I didn’t learn a single recipe from them, but my palate inherited what they knew, and what my uncles, aunts and grandmother knew.
Becoming vegetarian opened up the world of vegetables, and I began researching where every ingredient came from.
How the name was born
Friends became customers and took me to sell bread at their offices:
- District Institute of Culture and Tourism
- Ministry of Finance
- Ministry of Education
- Ministry of Transport
- Bancóldex
- ProColombia
- Corficolombiana
- Ecopetrol
- Asobancaria
- DAPRE
- Superservicios
I walked the hallways with my breads, and that’s where they named me Felipan.
2004 Educating the palate
I traveled to India to deepen my meditation practice. I visited 36 cities and then passed through Russia. Without meaning to, I was tasting unexpected flavors and continuing to educate my palate.
From workshop to workshop
- CedritosCra. 19 at 151, behind Brahma KumarisThe first workshop
- Santa TeresitaCra. 16 at 42Back from India
- GaleríasCra. 19 at 53
- MarlyCalle 51 # 9-73Since 2007
When we closed Galerías in 2008, we started serving a daily menu.
2008–2017 A different menu every day
For ten years we made a different menu every single day, experimenting with ingredients, combinations and techniques.
The last few years
- 2018–2019Felipan goes vegan.
- 2020The restaurant closes and we focus on the bakery. Recipes we made only once in a while become part of the daily menu.
- 2022We reopen the restaurant, this time built around bread: pizza, lasagna, pasta and sandwiches.
- 2024The first investments from partners arrive and we open our production bakehouse in Prado, at Cra. 54 and 128.
Today
I look for partners and companies to build alliances, teach workshops, host tastings, advise entrepreneurs… and I’m still selling bread.
I’m still running Felipan, just like in 2002.
