Posts Tagged ‘furniture’
Design and History – Book launch

Guy Julier y Viviana Narotzky enfocan su objeto de estudio a la sociedad contemporánea influenciada por la transnacionalización y la globalización y en los nuevos paradigmas del diseño y la cultura material de la mecanización y la seriación que marcan al diseño y la historia en el siglo xx.
Past and Future of the Barcelona Model
The new web of Parc de Belloch has been launched, with a whole set of great video interviews about design, Barcelona, urban landscaping and the city. Each interview comes with a downloadable pdf transcript in both the original Spanish and a translated English version.
I’ve posted a link to my own contribution above, and you can access further words of wisdom by the likes of Miguel Mila, Antoni Arola, Beth Gali, Nina Maso or Javier Nieto on Belloch’s site.
Panton Spanish Specials in Madrid
The Architectural Foundation COAM in Madrid has organised an exhibition of one-off Verner Panton chairs, reinterpreted by a selection of Spanish designers and artists. The show, 10 Autores + 10 Sillas Panton, will close on October 7 with an auction of the pieces, reworked by Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Alberto Corazón, Álvarez Sala y Rubio Carvajal, Angel Schlesser, Guillermo Pérez Villalta, Javier Mariscal, Manuel Serrano, Ouka-Leele, Pedro Feduchi, and Tuñón y Mansilla.
Showroom VITRA
C/ Marqués de Villamejor nº 5 – Madrid
Tel. 91 426 45 60 – www.vitra.com
Art Deco in Barcelona

The Design History Foundation launches its teaching programme with a course on Art Deco, which will offer both an international approach to the style and sessions on its local impact.
The 18-hour course will take place between 30.09.09 and 16.12.09, at the Disseny Hub Barcelona, C/ Montcada, 12, 08003 Barcelona. Sessions will be in Catalan.
More information here.
Mariscal whirlwind

While in London I visited the Mariscal retrospective (see technical details here) and found it wonderful. The energy of Mariscal’s design reverberates through the exhibition, a dizzying display that builds on the very qualities it seeks to showcase.
It’s a fine tribute to Mariscal’s extraordinary creative zest, his enduring playfulness, and the sheer power of a vision that has created a very consistent personal world, both laid-back and vibrant.
Mariscal Drawing Life at the Design Museum London

01 July – 01 November 2009
The first UK retrospective of Spanish designer and artist Javier Mariscal will open on July 1 at the Design Museum, London. Regarded as one of the world’s most innovative and original designers of our time, Mariscal’s rich and diverse body of work spans kooky cartoon characters to stunning interiors, from furniture to graphic design and corporate identities.
Mariscal’s intense relationship with drawing and illustration is central to his career and is the basis for his designs over the last 30 years. He gave Barcelona its graphic identity as it emerged from the Franco era and in 1992 he introduced the world to Cobi, the official Olympic mascot of the Barcelona games. Sketches, designs, films and photographs will be on display alongside furniture and textiles. Mariscal will also design and paint an elaborate mural for the exterior of the museum showcasing his unique vision and signature design style.
DESIGN MUSEUM, SHAD THAMES, LONDON SE1 2YD
TICKETS: Adults £8.50; Concessions £6.50;
Students £5.00; Under 12s free
OPENING: 10.00 -17.45 Daily. Last Admission: 17.15
PUBLIC INFORMATION T: 020 7940 8790
W: designmuseum.org ADVANCE BOOKING T: 020 7940
8783
W: ticketweb.co.uk
Go Green? Shop Vintage. Buy Thrift. Recycle.
For the Greenest Office, Buy Vintage. Buy Thrift. Recycle.
With all the hubbub about green products, the point that everyone seems to miss is that the greenest move of all is to buy used stuff. Variously called “vintage,” “thrift,” or “second hand,” its updated name might simply be Cradle-to-Curb-to-Cradle. Stylewise, there doesn’t have to be any trade-offs, as this clever new office redesign by I29, a young architecture firm, proves. All of the pieces were sourced from local flea markets in Amsterdam; they were then given a contemporary, oh-so-Dutch look using environmentally friendly spray paint. The design fits the client—an ad agency called Gummo—pretty well…
(from Fast Company)
Summertime… vintage design auctions are in season

LUIS BARRAGAN (1902-1988) A Sabino and Leather 'Barcelona' Chair, 1959. Estimate $20,000 - $30,000. Christie's Important 20th Century Decorative Art & Design, 2 June 2009 New York, Rockefeller Plaza.
With the month of June comes the yearly round of summer 20th Century design auctions at all the major auction houses. Sotheby’s ‘Important 20th Century Design’ of June 12 is offering lots for a total lower estimate value of $3.7 million – $5.4 at the highest estimate. This kind of money won’t save GM from bankruptcy, but it still is a hell of a lot of cash. Despite the recession, the relatively young 20C and contemporary design market has been holding its own remarkably well, even if its meteoric rise through to 2007 has been somewhat dampened in the current climate.
Christie’s and Phillips de Pury are also holding June auctions, as are Wright and Quittenbaum, both specialist 20C Design auction houses. The latter holds a treat for all of you who are interested in Spanish 20th Century 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 can!
And if you happen to come across other pieces of Spanish design in the auction catalogues, let me know!

Madrid Furniture of the 50s and 60s – An Online Catalogue.
Luis M. Feduchi & Javier Feduchi. Room of Hotel Castellana Hilton, Madrid. 1953.
The Madrid Architectural Association COAM has a great resource for mid-century Madrid design: Catálogo de Muebles – Madrid de los 50 y 60. The online catalogue of images is based on the research carried out for two exhibitions on 1950s and 1960s design respectively, curated by Pedro Feduchi, which took place in 2005 and 2006. The images come from periodical publications such as Revista Nacional de Arquitectura, Hogar y Arquitectura, Nueva Forma, Temas de Arquitectura, and furniture manufacturers’ catalogues of the time period.
The database is organised by designers, pieces, interiors and trade catalogues, and there is also a keyword search option. The interface is not particularly smooth or user-friendly and it’s time-consuming to have to click on every individual entry to see a thumbnail of the image. Searching by item typologies seems to be the most effective option, as thumbnails are supplied. In any case the collection is structured in a clear way and the material is worth the effort.
[Thanks to Jordi Esteve].
Side-chair. Jose Dodero, 1961.
Side-chair. Miguel Fisac, 1960.
T.D.C. Catalogue, 1956. Designs by Fernando Ramon Moliner.
Fernando Alonso Martinez & Francisco Muñoz Cabrero. Ceiling light, 1955.
Reading lamp for the Instituto Eduardo Torroja. Commercialised through Darro. 1959
Barcelona’s Art Nouveau domestic interiors

The research group Gracmon, Research Unit on History of Contemporary Art & Design based at Barcelona University’s Department of Art History, and the Fundació Institut Amatller, organise a symposium on turn of the century Barcelonese domestic interiors that will take place throughout the month of March 2009.
Here’s the programme:
Dimarts 3 de març
Gaudí i la superació de la tipologia residencial de l’Eixample: de la Casa Calvet a la Casa Milà
Joan Molet, professor titular d’història de l’art i pertany al GRACMON de la UB
Dimarts 10 de març
Les cases singulars de la “Mansana de la Discòrdia”: Casa Amatller, Casa Lleó-Morera i Casa Batlló
Santiago Alcolea Blanch, director de la FIAAH
Dimarts 17 de març
A casa dels poetes Apel.les Mestres, Alexandre de Riquer i Joan Maragall
Teresa-M. Sala, professora titular d’història de l’art i pertany al GRACMON de la UB
Dimarts 24 de març
Com s’hagués viscut al Park Güell?
Mireia Freixa, directora del departament d’història de l’art i pertany al GRACMON de la UB
Dimarts 31 de març
Audició íntima a les golfes de la Casa Amatller
Maria Luisa Muntada (Soprano) i Albert Romaní (fortepiano)
Lloc:
Casa Amatller
Hora:
19h
Preu:
Conferències i audició: 60€
Amics de la Casa Amatller i estudiant: 45€
Cicle de conferències: 30€
Informació i reserva:
Truqueu al telèfon 934 877 217 o amatller@amatller.org
Places limitades
















