Oscar Tusquets Gaulino Chair for BD Barcelona set/6
Spanish manufacturer BD Barcelona Design is best known for producing stand-alone furniture pieces by renowned historical and contemporary designers. BD Barcelona focuses primarily on one-of-a-kind designs that blur the lines between art and functional furniture.
BD Barcelona was founded in 1972 by five young, Barcelona-born architects: Pep Bonet, Cristian Cirici, Lluís Clotet, Mireia Riera, and Oscar Tusquets Blanca. Originally known as Boccacio Design—after the Barcelona nightclub frequented by certain left-wing intelligentsia—the company was renamed during its first year to Bd Ediciones de Diseño, and once again in 2007 to BD Barcelona Design.
The founding partners met at the Architecture University of Barcelona during the 1970s. They bonded over what they perceived as a lack of available, inspiring design objects. Wishing to see more innovation in furniture, they decided to create their own company to produce avant-garde designs that focused on artisanal processes, rather than mass production. The founders also wished to produce works by design masters they admired, including the young Italian architect-designer Ettore Sottsass. Sottsass was one of the first designers to collaborate with BD Barcelona, for which he designed the Mettsass Table (1972), Element of Architecture Vase (1972), Knossos Lamp (1973), and the phallic Shiva Vase (1973)—one of BD Barcelona’s most famous designs.
BD Barcelona also manufactures reissues of pre-existing, iconic furniture designs. The company’s very first reissue was Gerrit Reitveld’s ‘s Red and Blue Chair (designed in 1918 and reissued in 1972); other standouts include Charles R. Mackintosh’s Hill House furniture (originally designed in 1902, reissued in 1981).
Notably, BD Barcelona holds the exclusive world marketing rights to all the furniture designs of Salvador Dalí, and it has produced several pieces by the famed artist.
BD Barcelona has been based in Barcelona since the company’s inception, with showrooms in Barcelona and London. Their clientele consists primarily of private consumers and hotels. Notably, French designer Philippe Starck has furnished many of his projects with BD Barcelona pieces, including the Clift Hotel in San Francisco, the Delano Hotel in South Beach, and private spaces with his design brand YOO, such as the Icon Brickell apartment complex in Miami.
BD Barcelona is the recipient of many prestigious awards and prizes. In addition to awards received for specific products, they have also received the Premio Nacional de Diseño (1989), the European Community Design Prize (1990), and the Design for the World Award (2001).
