The principles of contemporary industrial design derive from avant-garde ideas of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Industrial design refers not to mere products of industry, but to objects conceived for industrial purposes and reproduced by industrial processes. This creative discipline has a fascinating history in the Spanish province of Catalonia, whose capital, Barcelona, is a center for advanced industrial design. Starting with Antoni Gaudí, and through the ensuing century, special circumstances have influenced Barcelona's contributions to the field. In particular, the Olympic Games of 1992 brought about a rethinking in all areas of design. The works selected for this exhibition are intended to illustrate this evolution.
Industrialization came late to Spain in comparison with other European
countries. In England, certain manufacturing changes initiated in the late
1700s had revolutionized industrial production by the early decades of the
next century. That revolution in technology quickly spread to the developed
countries of Europe and the United States. The first region of Spain to
feel its effects was Catalonia, which followed the British example by beginning
with textile production. The first steam-powered factory in Spain, the Bonaplata
thread and textile plant in Barcelona, opened in 1833. This initial step
toward modern industry did not last long: two years later workers burned
it down, seeing it as a threat to their jobs.
Meanwhile, Spain's first steamship, the Balear, was launched in 1834. Her
first railway line, from Barcelona to nearby Mataró, opened in 1848,
and the second, between Madrid and Aranjuez, three years later. In 1853
the Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona was lit by gas. And in 1890, the
enterprising textile manufacturer Francesc Bonet built Spain's first motor
car, using an internal combustion engine he had purchased at the Paris industrial
exposition. The Basque area and the Spanish southeast along the Mediterranean
experienced some industrial development, but the rest of Spain was dominated
by craftwork and a feudal economy for decades more.
Industrialization, and, concomitantly, job specialization, imply the
disappearance of the artisan's creative process. Who would now determine
the appearance of the product? Initially that question was settled by mechanically
copying traditional forms, with no thought for designing forms appropriate
for these new methods of production. This was true everywhere, of course,
and not just in Spain.
Many years were to pass before the first true industrial designs were developed.
As the industrial revolution started, art was entering a "neoclassical"
period. In Spain, the best design the country had to offer was represented
by folk art and handicrafts. The Royal Workshops, modeled on French counterparts,
produced luxury articles destined for an elite class. Created by the monarchy
and managed mostly by foreigners, they turned out excellent works of art-ceramics,
glass, mirrors, and tapestries (the best-known are the tapestries designed
by Goya). The design process did not enter into their manufacture, however,
save as reproduction of original patterns. The Guild Foundation (Fundación
de Gremios) in Madrid, dedicated to the preservation of crafts, survives
today as a lingering reminder of those workshops, the last of which closed
in 1850.
Barcelona's Museum of Folk Arts, Industries, and Traditions (Museu d'Artes,
Indústries i Tradiciones Populares) has an excellent collection reflecting
traditions and a way of life quite distinct from the international style
popular today. Several distaffs, glassware, a storage jar and other pieces
of ceramic, and a pressing iron have been loaned by that institution for
this exhibit.
Closely associated with industrialization and, consequently, with the
development of design, are fairs and exhibitions. Many such events, both
national and international in scope, were held throughout Europe during
the nineteenth century, London's 1851 exhibition being among the most significant.
Their initial aim was to establish commercial contacts and gain an acquaintance
with new inventions in machinery. In response to the needs of an ever-growing
mass market, new equipment and methods were rapidly being introduced.
The first public exhibition of the products of Spanish industry took place
in Madrid in 1827. Fairs were held in Barcelona in 1844 and 1851, and Catalonia
produced an industrial and artistic exhibition in 1860. From 1850 on exhibitions
were organized in other Spanish cities, but the Grand Universal Exposition
held at Barcelona in 1888 was the first of a worldwide nature to be staged
in Spain and had the greatest significance.
During the Barcelona exposition, a group of entrepreneurs and promoters
voiced their concerns about the loss of artistic values in mass-produced
objects; in particular, they wanted to ensure that their products would
remain competitive for export. With support from the moneyed middle class,
they formed a commission that drafted a series of artistic and cultural
policies, leading to the organization of an Exposition of Industrial Arts.
Eventually an important nucleus of professional artisans emerged in Barcelona.
These artisans established a decorative arts workshop, which in 1903 became
the Center for the Development of Decorative Arts.
Around the turn of the century, an influential movement known as "Arts
and Crafts," led by the Englishman William Morris, was finding many
followers in Spain. While this movement influenced early industrial design,
oddly enough its proponents were opposed to the industrial production of
objects for daily use, advocating rather a return to handicrafts. Francesc
de Paula Vidal and Alexandre de Riquer helped to introduce the Arts and
Crafts movement into Spain. A great admirer of Morris, de Riquer travelled
often to England and publicized the new style. He himself created artistic
works of much significance and helped to establish the First School of Arts
and Trades in Barcelona.
Spanish design, including graphic design by artists such as Antonio Utrillo
and Francisco de Cidón, began to develop rapidly after the beginning
of the century. Some industries kept pace with it: in 1904, barely two decades
after Daimler and Benz invented an automobile powered by internal combustion,
Barcelonean entrepreneurs founded the Hispano-Suiza Motor Company.
In the late nineteenth century an artistic movement spread through Europe
in reaction to impersonal and 'academic' art. It was known by various names:
Art Nouveau in France, Jugendstil in Germany, Sezession in Austria, De Stijl
in The Netherlands, Libertà in Italy, and Modernismo in Spain. Today
Modernism is recognized as one of Spain's enduring contributions to world
architecture. The first Modernist works in Catalonia-for example, Gaudí's
Casa Vicens of 1885-precede by almost a decade the Cassa Tassell of the
Belgian Victor Horta (1893), considered an early example of Modernist style.
A number of Spanish architects were leaders in the Modernist movement: in
addition to Domènech i Montaner, there were Puig i Cadafalch and
Josep Maria Jujol, who provided decorative work and design to complement
architectural construction.
But without question, the leading Modernist of Spain was Antoni Gaudí.
Quite aside from his vast architectural accomplishments, his designs for
furniture have had a lasting influence on both Spanish and international
design. The uniqueness of Gaudí's conceptions-embracing space and
structure, architectural and decorative details to complete the edifice,
and furnishings to interact with the whole-seems almost incomparable. Other
great architects, like the American Frank Lloyd Wright, developed his work
on this tradition and added elements of their own.
Gaudí's sketch of the Great Hall of the Barcelona School of Architecture
was executed when he was still a student. This and other early sketches
and the candelabra from the Gaudí museum at the Temple of the Holy
Family, included in this exhibit, illustrate the influences he was to exert
on style and form. His famous "Calvet chair" continues to be produced.
In furniture design, Francesc de Paula Vidal merits attention, as well as
Joan Busquets, the leader of a long line in the field, and the Majorcan
Gaspar Homar, notable for the delicacy of his work in marquetry.
If Modernism found its maximum expression in Catalonia, in other parts of
Spain its influence extended from architecture to other creative professions.
Despite the load of organic motifs and decorative detail, and the scarcity
of skilled craftsmanship, there is evidence of design in many objects and
furnishings of the period. Function as well as form were emphasized: many
caprices that appear decorative actually correspond to hidden objectives
of purpose, structure, and use.
As an avant-garde center of design, Barcelona attracted many pioneering
figures in architecture. While traveling through Spain as a young college
graduate, Walter Gropius was surprised to find there an advanced workshop
in applied arts. The workshop was an ongoing project of Domènech
i Montaner, architect of the Palau de la Música Catalana. The same
year Gropius visited Barcelona (1907), the Deutscher Werkbund (German Arts
and Crafts Society) was founded, with the aim of bringing architects and
artists into contact with machinery. After being appointed director of the
Weimar School of Art a decade later, Gropius decided to replace it with
the celebrated Bauhaus. The initial Bauhaus program in 1919 placed emphasis
upon "the presence of creative matter," "continuous contact
with working reality," and "parallelism of theory and practice
in teaching."
Modernism persisted well into the twentieth century, mingling with other
artistic and social movements. One such movement in Catalonia was Noucentisme,
which found expression principally in literature and in painting. In design,
Noucentisme tended to fuse with the ephemeral flash of Art Déco.
A popular example is the perfume of the House of Myrurgia (from the Greek
words for "essence" and "industry"). Myrurgia's proprietor,
Esteve Monegal, a sculptor, created the original flask for the scent "Sigh
of Granada" in 1922. Made of bakelite, the flask was modeled after
an incense burner. Later, at the Barcelona exposition in 1929, Monegal introduced
"Woods of the Orient," bottled in an elegant flask, rich in exotic
references, that is still used today.
The greatest figure in Spanish Art Déco was Santiago Marco, a furniture
designer and decorator of great prestige. Thanks to his relations abroad
and his insistent demands upon the authorities in Madrid, Spain was represented
by a delegation at the famous International Exposition of Decorative Arts
held in Paris in 1925. The Spanish presence in Paris was to be complemented
by a large-scale exhibit of the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí.
However, the artist refused to cooperate, being dedicated heart and soul
to work on his project for the Temple of the Holy Family.
The Paris Exposition was the maximum expression of Art Déco. It was
harshly attached in an article, "L'Art décoratif d'aujourd'hui,"
by Le Corbusier, a belligerent young architect who aimed to demonstrate
that a house should be a "machine for living," and that its furnishings
should consist of a limited repertory of functional objects.
Economic problems and political upheaval in Spain eventually led to the
establishment of a dictatorship by Primo de Rivera in 1923. Nevertheless,
an international design exhibition, originally planned in 1914 and rescheduled
for 1929, went forward in Barcelona without important changes. The exhibition
site was the hill of Montjuich, and the event served as a pretext for numerous
urban reforms and new infrastructure, including a subway system.
Pavilions erected by the participating foreign countries and national enterprises
offered a panorama of contrasts. Alongside staidly academic official "palaces"
and imitations of picturesque villages appeared examples of truly modern
architecture, such as the German pavilion, designed by Mies van de Rohe.
Although dismantled after the exposition, it was reconstructed in 1986 by
Cristian Cirici, Ignasi de Solà Morales, and Fernando Ramos.
One complement of the pavilion deserves particular attention: the chair
that Mies van der Rohe designed for the occasion. The "Barcelona chair"
won international fame after it was commercially manufactured in the United
States by Knoll. Despite the apparent simplicity of its airy "X"
design, the chair is bafflingly complex in structure. The pieces must be
carefully cut, glued, and polished by hand. Production is slow and costly,
in contradiction to Mies' own design principles; he never intended the piece
for mass production. Nonetheless, the Barcelona chair, one of the few articles
of furniture he designed, has entered history as an example of advanced
design.
The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 interrupted the development
of Spanish design, and put a lid on accumulated experience and hopes for
advances. Most members of the Spanish Architects and Technicians for the
Progress of Contemporary Architecture, established in 1930, lined up beside
the defenders of the republic, against the rightists. Some became so politicized
that they gave up their drafting instruments for rifles.
Following Franco's victory in 1939, many creative talents were forced into
exile to escape reprisals from the newly established dictatorship. One of
these was Antoni Bonet, who went to Argentina. There, in collaboration with
Kurchan and Ferrari-Hardoy, he designed the highly unusual "butterfly"
chair included in this exhibit. The chair's bent metal tubing supports a
sling of leather that serves as a seat. The artists intended it to represent
the dark period in Spain's history, when creativity and free expression
were suspect. Manufactured by Knoll, it became a signature piece for the
company owing to its popularity in the 1950s.
In 1946 a clandestine Catalan review called Ariel published a philosophical
piece,"The Art of Wisdom." This article asserted that "a
place must be found in culture not just for monuments, but for the record
player, the washbasin, the fork, the hat, or the bottle." Its author,
a young man just returned from exile, was Alexandre Cirici, who later played
a guiding role in the development of Spanish design. During the 1950s, other
signs appeared of the renewal of artistic expression in Spain, particularly
in Catalonia. The most significant year, 1957, marked a rebirth, if not
of contemporary design, at least of strong interest in the discipline. During
a visit by Gio Ponti, the director of the Italian review Domus, a group
of Spanish architects expressed to him their concerns about the restrictions
on artistic progress in Spain. At that time design was enjoying extraordinary
development in Italy, and Ponti had on several occasions been the guest
of the Official College of Architects of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.
With Ponti's encouragement, this group undertook to establish the Industrial
Design Institute of Barcelona (IDIB), one of the world's first industrial
design institutions. The IDIB could not go forward without legal recognition-a
difficult bureaucratic process in Franco's Spain. The laws of the dictatorship
attempted to prevent any group of more than ten from establishing any association
whatsoever, and particularly one with political or syndical aims. A constitution
for the IDIB had been drawn up by the suspect College of Architects, and
its professional composition was limited exclusively to vertical unions.
This aroused the opposition of the government, which kept delaying the legalization
process and gave no hope of ever resolving it.
Permission was finally denied, and for years the IDIB remained unauthorized.
The denial came as a shock to many artists, including André Ricard,
a restless Spaniard who had developed an independent interest in industrial
design. Without architectural or theoretical training, Ricard was instinctively
attracted to the field of design. During a stay in England, he studied the
writings of the Franco-American designer Walter Dorwin Teague. He also read
Raymond Loewy's book, Never Leave Well Enough Alone, and later met him in
New York: Loewy was to have a decisive influence on Ricard. This exhibit
features several of Ricard's works, among them the "Compact" tableware
and the Barcelona ashtray. Other figures of note in this period were Rafael
Marquina, Gabriel Lluelles, Miguel Milá, and Antonio Moragas, most
of whom are represented in this exhibition.
The Barcelona Center for Design (BCD) made its public debut in 1974, under
a huge inflatable tent located on the Avinguda Diagonal. Its stated aim
was "to promote, and provide information on, the status and problems
of industrial design and technological innovation." The tent served
both as a headquarters and a center for exhibits, talks, and short courses.
The journalist Màrius Carol, who has studied the BCD's history, found
its initiatives determined by three guiding factors: "First... the
challenge of competition in the international market, to which the progressive
liberalization of foreign trade had exposed local industry. Then, considering
the limited investment... in scientific research, design offered greater
prospects of immediate returns. Finally, there was the example of Italy.
Though it had fewer resources than more developed countries, its products
were highly competitive, thanks to imagination... in the field of industrial
design."
The death of Francisco Franco on November 20, 1975, coincided with a period
of transition of design, complicated by an international economic crisis
due to the rise in oil prices two years earlier. Isabel Campí, a
professor of design, observes: "The euphoria of the sixties evaporated
a few years later, demonstrating the fragility of the institutional basis
of Spanish design. Many companies broke off contact with designers, returning
to production of a more conservative nature. Many others closed their doors."
Her Història del Disseny Industrial (History of Industrial Design)
contains an interesting appendix on Catalan design.
This dismal period for Spanish design affected not only commercial enterprises,
but also the progress of institutions like the BCD. The Center did manage
to assemble the first international exhibit of Spanish design, however,
for a show at the Design Center in Stuttgart, Germany. Madrid gradually
lost the capacity for design which it once displayed, and only recently
has shown signs of recuperation. Pioneering efforts in the '50s and a renewal
of effort in the '70s met with a wall of incomprehension on the part of
commercial enterprise. A majority of those actively engaged in design in
Madrid agree that the capital's capacity in the area is extremely limited,
not to say nonexistent. The architect Antonio Fernández Alba recalls
that "originally there was heated debate in Madrid over theories of
design, whereas Barcelona, with its cultured moneyed class and consolidated
industry, took a more practical approach to the matter."
During the 1980s, significant events in design occurred every year and
were well publicized in the media. In 1981 Javier Mariscal-who was later
to design the Olympic mascot "Cobi"-was represented in the first
collection presented in Milan by the legendary "Memphis" group.
He had been selected a year earlier by Ettore Sottsass, who had been greatly
impressed by Mariscal's collection of "Amoral Furniture" on exhibit
at the Vinçon Salon in Barcelona. Collaborating with Pepe Cortés,
Mariscal was represented in Milan by two items, the "Columbus Coffee
Table" and the "Hilton Beverage Cart." Both were fully in
harmony with the iconoclastic nature of the event. Mariscal may be considered
either a post-modern or an avant-la-lettre Memphite, as evidenced by his
designs for furniture and textile prints prior to 1980. In that year he
designed the "Dúplex" stool for the bar of that name in
Valencia. This was a collaborative project with his friend the interior
decorator (and bullfighter) Fernando Salas. Several characteristics of the
Duplex stool came to symbolize the Spanish contribution to the worldwide
revolution in design.
In the same decade, design began to be applied to high-tech industrial products
in Spain. Ramón Benedito and other leading artists began to widen
the spectrum of design for industry, previously limited to furniture and
objects of domestic use.
In 1983, Oscar Tusquets was invited by Alessandron Mendini to participate
in a "Tea and Coffee Piazza" show, to develop a tea service for
the Italian firm of Alessi. Other participants were Michael Graves, Hans
Hollein, Charles Jencks, Richard Meier, Paolo Portoghesi, Aldo Rossi, Stanley
Tigerman, Robert Venturi, Kazumasa Yamashita, and Mendini himself. Thus
an unknown young Spaniard found himself in the company of ten world-renowned
designers, in an event that was widely copied as a promotional model by
companies all over the globe. Tusquets' design was not only ingenious, but
practical. Of all the works exhibited, only his complete set and individual
pieces by Rossi and Venturi were accepted for production and sale.
That same year the group known as Transatlàntic was founded, which
was to revitalize Spanish design during a period of upheaval. A collection
of "Sensuous Furniture" marked its debut, including a daring bar
stool with obvious erotic references. A year later, the Spanish branch of
a firm with much interest in design of Formica planned a project similar
to that of Alessi. Miguel Flores, Formica's director of design, organized
a show entitled "Eight Designers in ColorCore." Outstanding architects,
painters, and designers throughout Spain were invited to create pieces of
furniture with Formica; Tusquets and Ricard were among the participants.
The latter half of the 1990s was one of growth and normalization of design
in Spain. While the boom of the early '80s was over, there were new efforts
toward change and consolidation. Business enterprises reviewed their strategies
for growth; designers restructured professional studies in their area and
began to form group practices; institutions hastened to take up positions;
design began to be "sold." A new profession arose: Norberto Chaves
and Oriol Pibernat developed, within the long-established Berenguer Group,
an advisory service in design, image, and communication, providing a bridge
to ease the sometimes difficult relationship between designers, enterprises,
and institutions.
There was moreover a spectacular burst of foreign interest in Spain, deriving
from the new political situation. As if the door to southwest Europe had
suddenly been unlocked, a horde of journalists invaded a country of which
they knew nothing save for picturesque aspects of folklore. They discovered
to their surprise that harsh years of isolation had given birth to a singular
mass of creative talent. Europeans, Americans, and Japanese alike recognized
achievement in all areas, but particularly in the field of design. Some
writers voiced the opinion that Barcelona had eclipsed Milan as a design
center. Spanish designers were called to work for business concerns all
over the world; exhibits of Spanish design cropped up everywhere abroad;
and magazines dedicated entire issues to new design in the land of Gaudí,
Picasso, and Miró.
Among outstanding names in this period are those of Josep Lluscá,
Jaume Tressera, Pete Sans, Josep Maria Trias, and Alfredo Arribas. Many
others could not be included in the present exhibition. The artists were
as versatile as varied in talent. Arribas, for example, is responsible for
the unusual character of many bars in Barcelona, for which he designed striking
equipment and interiors. Photos of several of these bars are included in
this exhibit.
During the 1990s several events kept Spain in the center of the international
stage. In 1992, the World's Fair took place in Seville, the Olympic Games
were held in Barcelona, and Madrid was designated the Cultural Capital of
Europe. In 1993, with the beginning of steps toward European Union, there
was a renewed challenge to industrial competitiveness, with an important
role being assigned to design. It is clear that for generations to come,
Spanish designers will continue to provide original answers to the needs
of form and function in objects of human invention.