BD Barcelona – Art Edition
Design meets art
BD Barcelona is one of the world’s unique brands in the field of artistic furnishing design. In contrast to mass production, BD Barcelona relies on handcrafted artifacts, limited editions, design classics and furniture artworks. The Art Edition by BD Barcelona includes man-made art objects – exclusive, unique and of timeless elegance and value. TAGWERC, as the official partner of BD Barcelona, offers the original designs from the Art Edition of BD Barcelona online and offline.
Barcelona as a base
In the early 1970s, architecture students Pep Bonet, Christian Cirici, LLu’s Clotet, Mireia Riera and Oscar Tusquets Blanca meet in the Catalan capital Barcelona in the trendy Boccacio nightclub. The five Spaniards share their origins and profession. Together, they want to produce art furniture by outstanding designers and artists in craftsmanship, away from all the mainstream. The name is quickly found and is similar to that of the nightclub: “Boccacio Design”. Later, it is changed to “BD Ediciones de Diseño”. Today, the company operates under the name “BD Barcelona Design”.
Salvador Dalí’s sofa
BD Barcelona’s relationship with the art world is deeply rooted in the beginnings of the Spanish entrepreneur and begins in 1972 with one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Salvador Dalí. Between 1972 and 1974, the Spanish master developed the “Salivasofa”, the legendary art sofa inspired by the lips of the American actress Mae West – actually Mary Jane West – together with Oscar Tusquets. A first prototype was built in 1973. Although the sofa was conceived as a limited series from the beginning, it is not (yet) produced as such. It is not until thirty years later that it will be available as the “Dalilips” sofa. And other pieces of furniture by the Spanish Grand Master Dalí, drawn for the French furniture designer Jean-Michel Frank, are included in the exclusive repertoire of BD Barcelona until the 1990s, including the “Leda Low Table” and “Leda Chair”.
Sottsass Shiva
In the early days, however, the furniture manufacturer initially devoted itself to the development of some designs by another up-and-coming designer, Ettore Sottsass. The “Mettsass Table” was built in the year of its foundation, and a year later the “Shiva Vase“, which is still one of the most memorable artifacts in BD Barcelona, presumably because of its phallus-like shape.
Furniture of Modernisme
Two years later, in 1975, it is the furniture of the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí that demands the holistic development work of BD Barcelona. Furniture designed by Antoni Gaudí for his houses Casa Batlla and Casa Calvet is produced according to exactly the same elaborate production processes that were also used in the production of the first pieces at the time. In addition to the “Batlla Chair” and “Calvet Chair” chairs named after the houses, the “Calvet Mirror” and the “Calvet Wall Wardrobe”, there are also stylistic elements such as door handles and peepholes, so-called “spies”, which make Gaudí’s unique “Modernisme” design style, a Spanish style of Art Nouveau, tangible in the own four walls.
Paintings with shape
The introduction of Salvador Dalí’s furniture and lighting collection in 1991 undoubtedly marks a unique milestone in the history of design, which is linked to BD Barcelona and was made possible by the Catalan company. For the first time, objects from images designed by Dalí were considered for use as furnishings with a shape and even a function. A unique approach to objects of fine art such as sculptures or paintings. Never before have furniture from paintings taken shape and even been given a function. Achievements such as the lamb “Xai”, the “Invisible Personage Chair”, the “Portlligat sunbed”, the lights “Cajones Lamp”, “Muletas Lamp” and “Bracelli Lamp” and the sofa “Vis-a-vis de Gala” are certainly developed due to the friendly relationship between Salvador Dalí and Oscar Tusquets and thanks to the talent of Robert Descharnes and Joaquim Camps.
Art Edition by BD Barcelona
The BD Barcelona objects, which are offered in the TAGWERC Design STORE and belong to the “BD Barcelona Art Edition”, are closer to art than to product design. The BD Barcelona objects offered at TAGWERC are manufactured by hand in limited editions only after their order and exclusively for the customer. They are unique furnishing objects away from machine-produced and stocked mass-produced goods. Yesterday’s great artists at BD Barcelona have been joined over the years by well-known designers of today such as Fernando and Humberto Campana, Stephen Burks, Jaime Hayon, Doshi Levien and Ross Lovegrove.
To this day, BD Barcelona has remained true to its hometown of Barcelona and to this day the ambitious production maxims have been maintained. BD Barcelona at TAGWERC: “Design meets art”.