Something is moving in Spanish design, which amazes, surprises and captivates the rest of the world. Proof of this is that Spanish firms do not stop reaping international awards, that young Spanish talent, represented by seven creators under 35 years of age, was the protagonist of the Rising Talents exhibition that the latest edition of the Parisian fair Maison
Hayón himself and other established ones such as Patricia Urquiola, Antoni Arola or Inma Bermúdez are in great demand by companies and institutions around the world, but along with these established, emerging ones such as Inés Llasera and Guillermo Trapiello (Tornasol Studio), who opened a studio in 2017 , already collaborate with an international firm such as Hermès.
"Small studios no longer depend so much on national publishers, we can self-publish and kickstart communication, that brings us closer to international brands," Trapiello points out to explain part of this global success. The figure of the small studio capable of working modestly and at the same time for large firms is beginning to be viable. Something that has been happening for decades in Milan, New York or Paris.
There is more demand for good design and more excellently trained designers who are committed to a collaborative way of working. Emerging designers build networks to share information and business opportunities. They claim the value of crafts and take terms such as sustainability, social awareness or technology for granted.
There are makers who establish their self-production centers on the outskirts of cities or in rural areas, like Andreu Carulla, who lives in Banyoles or the graphic designer Ramón Soler, who works for the world from Loja (Granada). Architects who focus their projects on design and interior design, such as Carme Pinós, and designers such as Álvaro Catalán de Ocón, who generate manifest objects -such as his PET plastic lamps- to talk about contemporary problems from a design perspective, in addition to responding functionally to a need.
Trapiello, connected to this network of creators including Max Milà, Miguel Leiro, Marta Armengol, Álvaro Aramburu and Josep Safón, calls for "fewer reissues of classic collections and a greater commitment to promoting young design". Also to end the obsolete concept that differentiates crafts as unique and exclusive pieces and what is produced in series. “We love tradition, but we must not idealize it. It has to be serialized and it can be done with great quality. Crafts made with machines are also crafts. And he claims "more relationship between the university and the company, something that already occurs in industrial engineering", for example.
Javier Marset, co-founder of the lighting firm that bears his name, and for which a good pool of designers from various generations, from here and abroad, works, believes that the boom of the eighties and nineties has deflated and that now it is all more serious, with more business vision. We know that we must do it well if we want to succeed in the international market”.
This lighting businessman recalls that “the contract sector stopped dead with the pandemic. Many companies had to close. Those that remained were those that did well and had investment capacity. Hotels have once again bought good, quality products. They are no longer just looking for the cheapest. As for lighting, it has evolved, we need comfort. To relax, concentrate, cook, read… this is taking hold and the design gives answers”. And he summarizes: “The key is internationalization. I make products with the world in mind, not the neighborhood”. After more than a decade in Manhattan, the offices and showroom of the lamp firm moved at the end of 2022 to a new space located in Brooklyn, in the heart of Williamsburg.
Nani Marquina and her daughter, Maria Piera, have also been in New York this month. They opened a showroom in SoHo also a decade ago and now they are in a beautiful historic building in the Flatiron District. Piera recognizes that "the Spanish product is being valued". She, who works in the commercial area of Nanimarquina, notes that “when you talk to foreigners, they rate the quality of Spanish production and design very highly. The Italians seem not very serious to them, the Nordics continue to have their large market share, but Spain rises because it has shown that its companies are serious”.
Nani Marquina also recognizes a certain inferiority syndrome. We have a good level, of course, and we are more valued than we think". The veteran designer sees “a great change in design, we were in a drought and we were always the same, but now there is a very young and very powerful movement. They are still a long way from the established ones, but soon they will explode and there will be a radical change. We are going to see totally new concepts. They are going to make us use things in a different way, the key will be durability and reuse, and that good design is understood by everyone and not just a few. This will make the product totally different.”
When American, Anglo-Saxon, Nordic and Italian design was established, only a few pioneers stood out in Spain. At the beginning of the eighties there was a very interesting opening, with a nucleus in Barcelona that transcended from product design to the creation of a new city, another in Valencia and little else in the rest of Spain.
In Valencia, the La Nave group, creative from different disciplines, was key in the emergence of the so-called Nou Disseny Valencià (the IVAM is now dedicating an exhibition to this group). In the 2000s Spain still did not have a strong industry, but the teaching of design, first in Architecture and then with the boom in schools in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia, revolutionized everything.
Companies like Roca, Simon, Andreu World, Kettal, Santa
Marisa Santamaría, researcher and disseminator specializing in global design as the axis of transformation in the 21st century, points out the key points of this change. Crafts and traditions are recovered with new languages. The environment is valued and new materials are integrated with new technologies in a more humane way.
After the pandemic, what is known as the human design center (user-centered design) gives way to the concept of life design centers (life-centered design). Design, in a broad sense, is no longer another piece of furniture or a new web page, but rather contributes to making the new digital systems more understandable for society.
After the covid, people want to celebrate life, they look more for health and well-being, for good nutrition and they also want to leave a good mark for the future of this world. The pandemic has left an awareness that consuming has to be in line with the fact that products, in addition to being beautiful, have to be clean. The sustainability label is no longer enough, it is necessary to explain why that particular product is innovative and respectful of the environment.
Santamaría also points out that “we need to help each other between generations (as pointed out by the study The housing of the future of generation Z in Spain, by the Silestone institute). We must learn and get closer to the new generations because they give us guidelines. The Zs teach technology to the elderly, while they love Grandpa's wing chair, which is very cocoon”.
The design made in Spain seduces the world. Even the once maligned and very Spanish improvisation is a highly valued skill in the 21st century, a sign of creativity and knowing how to adapt to each context, to each process. The very young Puntofilipino interior design studio and established ones such as Andreu World, Expormin, Ondarreta or Gandia Blasco, among others, have received awards for excellence at the German Design Awards. “But a common narrative is missing, there is dispersion. We lack self-esteem, which Italy and the Nordics have plenty of, Spanish design has to puff out its chest. But not for marketing but for his good work, which is palpable, defends Santamaría vehemently.
In 2005, Cosentino became the first Spanish advertiser for the Super Bowl. A year earlier, Time magazine considered Silestone one of the most important innovations of the 20th century. Today, from Almería, this multinational is a world leader in the production and distribution of surfaces for design and architecture.
"Outside they value us more; here we have a certain self-esteem problem," confirmed Patricia Urquiola a few days ago after collecting her accreditation as honorary ambassador of the Spain brand from the Kings, Felipe and Letizia. We will have to listen to the most international of our designers and feel proud with the high level of our design.
