Josep Maria Jujol (1879-1949) was a Catalan Modernista architect, draughtsman, designer and painter. A follower of Antoni Maria Gallissà and Lluís Domènech i Muntaner, he completed his architecture studies in 1906 and was also a professor at the Higher School of Architecture in Barcelona
He collaborated with Antoni Gaudí, adding his own personality to the work. In fact, the architect Gaudí trusted him to design parts of his projects, giving him total creative freedom.
As from 1904 he worked with Gaudí on the design of the main façade of the Casa Batlló, as well as the wrought iron railings and some of the plaster ceilings at the Casa Milà (popularly known as ‘La Pedrera’), among other projects.
Jujol’s work cannot be categorised. He participated in artistic movements such as Surrealism and Dadaism, as well as using abstract and informalist approaches. Some of Jujol’s most notable architectural works are the Teatre Metropol (1908) in Tarragona; the reform of Casa Bofarull (1913 – 1931) in Els Pallaresos, Tarragona; the Torre de la Creu (1913 – 1916) in Sant Joan Despí, Barcelona and the Vistabella Church (1918) in La Secuita, Tarragona.
Of his collaboration with Gaudí, there is notably the Casa Batlló (1904 – 1906) in Barcelona, with its main façade and furniture; the Casa Milá (La Pedrera) (1906 – 1910) in Barcelona, its balcony railings and plaster ceilings; the Park Gúell (1900 – 1914) in Barcelona, with the “trencadís” technique bench and ceilings in the hypostyle room as well as Mallorca Cathedral (1909 – 1910) in Palma de Mallorca, with paintings for the Gothic masonry for the choir and facings on the apse walls.
Carles Riart, Barcelona 1944.
Carles Riart is impossible to pigeonhole as a designer. He’s very interested in how furniture is actually built and, after training at the Escola Eina, he worked shoulder to shoulder with a cabinetmaker with whom he’s also developed some of his pieces. Carles Riart could be defined more accurately as a “furniture maker” than a designer in the normal sense of the word. His work is based on constructive knowledge and on traditional skills, designing furniture that represents both tradition and modernity.
Also of note is his facet as an interior designer, both for films and also for restaurants, offices, shops and private homes, with a distinctive style and personality that has created his own hallmark. In 1969, at the beginning of his career and together with the filmmaker Bigas Luna, he set up in Barcelona the interior design studio and store called Gris. Later on in 1974 he founded the studio and workshop Diputació, a precursor to self-producing promoters of design.
Regarding the relationship between Mobles 114 and Carles Riart, in 1976 there was an exhibition of his furniture and a catalogue was published entitled “1st Collection of special furniture”; in 1992 Riart once again worked with Mobles 114 on the exhibition “<<Useful>>, furniture collection by Carlos Riart Llop“ and his work was later shown on several occasions at other exhibitions, such as “Lost Objects”, 1996, and the series designed for Josep Carreras (1996-2000) in collaboration with Pepe Cortés.
He has won awards from the Furniture Contemporary Resources Council (New York, 1983), the Top Ten European Prize (Cologne, 1994), Grand Prix de la Presse Internationale (Paris, 1994) and the National Design Award 2011, as well as numerous Delta Prizes, especially the Gold Delta for his ONA coat stand, designed together with Montse Padrós in 1992.
Montse Padrós, Badalona, 1952
Montse Padrós is an industrial and interior designer trained at Escola de Disseny Elisava and at Escola d’Arts i Oficis in Barcelona. After working for the architect’s studio MBM Arquitectes (Martorell-Bohigas-Mackay), the Joaquim Prats studio and for AD Associate Designers, she has been working for herself since 1991.
Montse Padrós sees design as observation and reflection, helping to amalgamate and order the needs of the product both in functional and formal terms, with form and function becoming an essential part of the product.
Of note among her designs is the ONA coat stand, designed together with Carles Riart, which is produced by Mobles 114 and won the ADI_FAD Delta Gold in 1992.
Germán Rodríguez Arias (Barcelona, 1902 – 1987).
Catalan architect and designer, together with Josep Lluís Sert, Josep Torres Clavé, Sixte Illescas and Ricardo de Churruca, among others, he introduced architectural rationalism to Catalonia and was a founding member of GATCPAC. The buildings he designed in the city of Barcelona form part of the heritage of universal rationalist architecture.
During his exile in Mexico and subsequently in Chile, he focused his work on designing interiors and furniture; as a result of his very close relationship with the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, Rodríguez Arias was the architect behind the various homes Neruda had built in Chile during his lifetime. Together with Cristián Aguadé and Claudi Tarragó he founded Muebles Sur, which would become one of the country’s leading furniture makers.
In 1957 he returned to his homeland and settled on Ibiza, once again getting together with his companions Sert, Prats and Illescas. He worked as a municipal architect on the island, combining this with projects as a private architect and principally designing hotels and homes, including his own house at Portinatx.
André Ricard, Barcelona 1929.
A pioneer of Spanish industrial design, André Ricard was Chairman of ADI-FAD, Founding Chairman of ADP and a member of the Faculty of the Art Centre (Switzerland), among other positions.
An internationally renowned author, he has designed containers, utensils, lighting, domestic appliances and items of furniture that have ended up forming part of our everyday lives at home. Among his most well-known designs are the Copenhagen ashtray, released by Mobles 114, and the Olympic torch for the Barcelona 1992 Games.
Taking a logical, analytical approach he “harmoniously integrates the most beautiful form with the demands of the function”, applying a style of design that’s classic because it’s timeless and never becomes outmoded.
André Ricard has been recognised with Spain’s National Design Award, the Sant Jordi Cross from the Catalan government, the Olympic Order of the International Olympic Committee and the Gold Medal for Artistic Merit of the city of Barcelona, and has also been made a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur of France.
JM Massana, Barcelona, 1947.
JM Tremoleda, Barcelona, 1946.
Pioneers of industrial design in Barcelona, both graduated from Escola Massana as part of its first ever intake of industrial design students, in 1969. In 1968 JM Massana and JM Tremoleda, together with Jordi Domènech and Francesc Miravitlles, created “Equip de Disseny”. In 1973, together with Mariano Ferrer, they founded Mobles 114, a furniture store and interior design studio where they don’t only create the store’s designs but also promote the work by other designers such as Carles Riart, at a time when social and cultural changes were taking place in which design would play a vital role.
As a result of its commitment to the aesthetic values of modernity and the promotion of design, Mobles 114 has become one of the country’s leading promoters of furniture, publishing a catalogue of coherent contemporary furniture that emphasises humanistic values as an integral part of its identity. Beyond their indisputable work as promoters at Mobles 114, Massana – Tremoleda also design many of the items of furniture in the collection. Their work stands out for the importance given to the object’s functionality and for their refusal to adhere to purely formalist aspects. Honesty becomes essential and aesthetics the outcome.
Many of their designs still form part of the Mobles 114 catalogue thanks to their timeless quality and continuation on the market; they are items of furniture that, far from being passing fads, are still up-to-date and relevant.
The work of Massana –Tremoleda as promoters and entrepreneurs for the Mobles 114 brand was recognised by the jury for the 2001 National Award “for the perseverance and coherence demonstrated over the years, reflected in the quality of their products”.
Miguel Milá Sagnier, Barcelona (1931-2024)
Miguel Milá, who started his career in the late 1950s, sees himself as a pre-industrial designer. Together with André Ricard, Antoni de Moragas, Oriol Bohigas and Rafael Marquina, among others, he was the co-founder of the ADI FAD association, set up to promote and disseminate industrial design both nationally and internationally.
His work as an interior designer for the studio of Federico Correa and Alfonso Milá stands out, remarkably, for its ability to impart comfort and elegance to the spaces he creates. His designs are the result of painstaking but seemingly simple work which has led to many of his products being recognised as icons of our country’s industrial design.
He won the very first National Design Award in 1987, Compasso d’Oro and Gold Medal for Fine Arts 2016.
Josep Torres Clavé, Barcelona 1906 – Els Omellons 1939.
Architect, urban developer, designer and pedagogue, he was a founding member of GATPAC (Group of Spanish Artists and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture) and a leading introducer of rationalist architecture in our country.
Torres Clavé started his career in architecture together with Josep Lluís Sert and Antoni Bonet Castellana. In fact, with Josep Lluís Sert and Joan Baptista Subirana he constructed some of the most important buildings in Catalan rationalism, such as the Ciutat de Repós i Vacances in Castelldefels (1932) and the Dispensari General Antituberculós in Barcelona (1936).
He ran the magazine AC (A. C. Documents of Contemporary Activity), helping to introduce artists such as Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Erich Mendelsohn, Van Doesburg, Neutra, Lubetkin, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso; working to spread architecture, design and contemporary art in a society wanting to modernise, in competition with a supremely contemporary Europe. He left behind a brief but important legacy in his short career as a designer. He designed chairs, tables and lights, among other items of furniture, including the Torres Clavé armchair, re-released by Mobles 114.
Josep Torres Clavé died aged 33 during the Spanish Civil War.
Álvaro Siza Vieira, Matosinhos 1933.
Álvaro Siza was born in Matosinhos, Portugal. An internationally renowned architect, he created his first designs in Portugal where he earned a reputation for their elegant, respectful integration within the architecture and landscape. The Marés swimming pools at Leça de Palmeira and the Da Boa Nova restaurant are a good example of this.
Siza’s architecture is guileless, minimal and efficient, conveying a sense of withdrawal or inner contemplation; architecture that has been constructed in many different countries in the world but always preserving this capacity to provoke contemplation.
He’s won many different architecture prizes including the Mies Van der Rohe Award in 1988 and the Pritzker Prize of 1992.