Where is Spanish vintage design?
Lamp by Andre Ricard for Metalarte. Spain, 1973.
I find browsing through the catalogues of 20th century design auctions pleasantly addictive. I particularly enjoy the idea of many of those objects having the possibility of an extended real life out there in someone’s home, eventually. Of tables supporting piles of half-read magazines and traces of fresh coffee stains, consoles being scratched by bunches of keys every evening, lamps being turned on and chairs creaking as people sit at the dinner table. When I come across a piece of vintage furniture I really like, a whole room seems to grow around it in my mind. A very expensive room, as many of these objects have been going for pretty steep prices – at least until fairly recently. The 20th Century Design antiques market hasn’t been immune to the global economic meltdown, although it has held up surprisingly well, especially at the higher end of the market.
The vintage design scene is dominated by five main players, in terms of where the pieces come from and the most valued historical periods. Germany (Bauhaus designers), Italy (pretty much everything), France (Prouve of course, Royère, Mategot), Scandinavia (Aalto, Jacobsen, Panton) and US Mid-Century Modern (Eames, Nelson, Nakashima). Just to name a few. Then there’s everybody else, from the Czech Republic to Brazil. And, on rare occasions, Spain.
Fase 520c lamp in TV series House M.D., episode 4x11, "Frozen".
Late 1960s lamp by Fase, Madrid.
Until very recently, Spain was as entirely absent from the vintage design scene as the vintage design scene was absent in Spain. Now both are starting to rear their heads. So far, the occasional Spanish mid-century presence in the auction catalogues is limited to a couple of recurring typologies, but they are slowly becoming established. One of them is – to the horror of Spaniards who see nothing in them but the reminder of Francoist officialdom – the pieces by lighting company FASE, manufacturer during the 1960s and 1970s of wonderfully solid and excitingly modern-looking lamps for the desks of Spanish civil servants. Ironically, designer-anonymous Fase lamps are probably the best-known items of Spanish design in the vintage world. Not surprisingly, as some of them are truly gorgeous. They have recently found their way into the latest Indiana Jones film (on Indy’s desk, no less!) and an episode of the TV series House M.D. – Hollywood production designers know a good thing when they see it.
Sunburst gilt ceiling fixture. Spain, late 1950s.
Spain, 1950s gilt sunburst mirror with scrollwork frame
Another category of Spanish mid-century design that has become extremely successful abroad is the sunburst, both as mirror and as lamp. Again, to the dismay of modernity-seeking Spaniards who see them as the epitome of kitsch and the bane of dreary middle-class late 1950s entry halls. And again, I think they’re gorgeous.
But what about ‘real’ Spanish design, designer design, the kind of stuff that was getting ADI-FAD Delta prizes in the 1960s and 1970s? The stuff by Miguel Mila and Andre Ricard and Barba Corsini? Or even earlier 1930s stuff by the GATCPAC crew? There seems to be precious little of it out there.
The Butterfly chair (known as BKF in Spain) by Antonio Bonet, Juan Kurchan and Jorge Ferrari Hardoy, is virtually the only well-known piece by a Spanish designer that has a solid, enduring presence in the vintage design auction world. And that is probably because it was designed in Argentina in 1938 (Bonet, a Catalan architect, had fled Spain during the Civil War and founded the Austral group with Kurchan and Ferrari) and later manufactured by Knoll in the US, becoming an iconic piece of mid-century modern furniture design.
Another Spanish piece that has appeared recently in auction catalogues is a splendid reading lamp by Andre Ricard, one of Barcelona’s best known designers and part of the generation that helped establish the profession in the 1960s. The lamp was commissioned for the library of the Philosophy Faculty of Barcelona University in the early 1970s. The Faculty relocated to new premises a couple of years ago and the Library is no more, so I’m glad this lamp made it into the auctions circuit, because it certainly didn’t make it into the local design museum collections. It’a a beautiful, elegant piece, which combines a 70s sensibility with a certain Art Deco flair (see picture at top of post). It was manufactured by Metalarte, and I have found another version of it in their historical catalogue, which was probably the inspiration for the site-specific Library lamp.
Low table lamp by Andre Ricard for Metalarte, 1973.
So – where is Spanish vintage design? A lot of it probably ended up in the rubbish bin a long time ago. The preservation of mid-century everyday objects in Spain has been hindered by the fact that they represented a material culture of dictatorship, national isolation and anonymous design, and by an institutional infrastructure (read Museums) that lacked the means and the will to look after the design heritage efficiently. But there are some truly great pieces out there, both anonymous and signed, and I’m sure we will be seeing more of them as the interest in 20th century vintage takes root in Spain. And that will be a good thing, because we can’t always rely on museum collections to take care of the past.
I am sorry, but as an Spaniard in my middle fifties, I really hate the sunburst. A lot.
Corcho
December 21, 2008 at 8:46 pm
I know, I know, it’s a tough one… But they can be truly spectacular, they look amazing in the right context, and they are one of our most prized vintage exports. Please don’t hate the sunburst!
Viviana Narotzky
December 21, 2008 at 9:17 pm
A very useful post. As a Spanish expat, I have been furnishing my apartment in New York with vintage pieces, and the FASE lamp was the only one on sale on the local dealers (i.e., 1stdibs).
My sense is that a lot more items will surface as a consensus emerges about what pieces are valuable. This blog post is a very good step in that direction…
danielbeunza
December 31, 2008 at 1:05 am
Hi Daniel – Yes, I’m sure we’ll be seing more great Spanish vintage pieces coming out of the woodwork in the next couple of years. Good luck with your apartment, and if you’re after any particular Spanish piece give me a shout, I always keep an eye out for the stuff.
Viviana Narotzky
January 8, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Hola Viviana, me vas a permitir que escriba mi comentario en español, idioma en el que me siento más cómoda… Cuánto tiempo llevo esperando a encontrarme con un blog que hable del diseño español (lo que yo he querido llamar “vintage” en mi blog) del siglo pasado con tanto conocimiento y tanto gusto!!. Estoy totalmente de acuerdo contigo cuando insinuas que muchos complejos de nuestros padres y abuelos (heredados en muchísimos casos por nosotros, hijos en los 30 o 40) hacen que no sepamos ver la belleza en muchos diseños del siglo pasado. Sin embargo, muchas de esas piezas son verdaderas joyas para mí -algunos sunburst y por supuesto muchas lámparas- que compro casi compulsivamente cuando las encuentro por precios irrisorios -la mayor parte de las veces- en tiendas de segunda mano y rastros. En fin, que me encantaría que tu entrada estuviera en castellano para poder linkearla directamente desde mi blog, porque dices las cosas muy claras y desde la opinión firme del que sabe de qué está hablando… No me enrollo más. Ah, y gracias por haberto pasado por mi blog y dejar allí tu comentario!
Leticitoda Blanco
January 11, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Ningun problema en poner comentarios en castellano, me encantaria que el blog acogiera a una comunidad bilingue. Me alegro de que te interesara la entrada, la verdad es que aun hay muy poco dicho sobre Vintage Español, aunque ya vamos siendo mas los que nos interesamos por el tema, ya sea como coleccionistas o por interes en la historia del diseño español. Como bien comentas, creo que el cambio generacional va a ayudar… y blogs como el tuyo, claro! Ah, y linkea mi entrada aunque este en ingles, mujer – a fin de cuentas, tu blog tambien es bilingue!
Viviana Narotzky
January 12, 2009 at 4:14 pm
As a spaniard and addicted to XXth century design auctions, I have to agree with your statements. Fase lamps are really easy to find at very reasonable prices, but not on regular international auctions webs, but on spanish second-hand webpages. Most of the times the seller doesn’t even says it’s a Fase, he doesn’t care, even if that’s changing now… I haven’t been able to find out the names of the people who designed these. Such a perfect anonymous design is rare to see these times! You can also find Metalarte pieces from the sixties or seventies, but the seller won’t say it’s a Metalarte, unless the whole name is clearly visible on the lamp. There are beautiful pieces by this brand, the most known of all may be Ricard’s “Tatu”.
The thing is that few spanish antiquarians care about XXth design, so there isn’t any selection. You have to dig in lots of crap to find one of these design jewels.
On the other hand, you’re right: Milà, Ricard, Corsini, Bonet and I’d say Coderch or Moragas are the most-known names from the Barcelona scene. And Metalarte and Tramo were the brands for lightning, while Mobilplast was the one licensed to produce C&B Italia or scandinavian designs on furniture. As well as originals impossible to find.
Madrid made it less into the market, but there are several names to follow as Fisac, Feduchi or Carvajal. I have to recommend the Colegio de Arquitectos de Madrid web-catalogue on madrid fifties design.
But if you really want to know about spanish design from the sixties, the best thing is to get the “Arquitectura Interior” books one per year from 1959 to 1967. Lots of pictures, names and pieces, some of them can’t stand the time. Others should be reissued inmediately. Others have already been.
Congratulations for your blog.
Jordi E
May 4, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Hello Jordi,
I actually have a few of those wonderful Arquitectura Interior books, which I treasure.
Thanks for contributing some really useful info here, especially on the Madrid scene. You’re right to point out the COAM link, it’s worth a separate post I think, so I will put that up.
As for the state of the Spanish vintage design market, there are a few good vintage antiques shops, but none specialise in Spanish design – mostly because it would be almost impossible to find enough good inventory at this stage to make that economically worthwile. As you explain, one has to go through lots of mud to find the pearl. But I think that as interest in these pieces -and vintage design generally- grows, there will soon be enough of a first-level sift going on to give them more visibility. That’s what’s happened with Fase lamps, and some Metalarte pieces.
Another issue Spanish vintage has to contend with is the fact that there never has been a continuous mass-production of pieces flooding the market – no Artek here!- and many were only batch-produced, so pieces are comparatively rarer. But all the more valuable!
Viviana Narotzky
May 12, 2009 at 12:12 pm
[...] design: Andre Ricard’s rare 1973 lamp for Metalarte (pictured below), which I mentioned in an earlier post, is up for grabs at an estimate of €1200. Catch it if you [...]
Summertime… vintage design auctions are in season « BCNDesign – Barcelona, Design, Etc.
June 2, 2009 at 2:04 pm
hi,
I really like fase lamps and own a few already, please email me if you could find me some at a reasonable price
weviestonder
November 11, 2009 at 11:38 am