BD Barcelona – Art Edition
Design meets art
BD Barcelona is one of the world's most unique brands in the field of artistic interior design. In contrast to mass production, BD Barcelona focuses on handcrafted artifacts, limited editions, design classics, and furniture works of art. The BD Barcelona Art Edition comprises handcrafted art objects – exclusive, unique, and of timeless elegance and value. TAGWERC As an official partner of BD Barcelona, we offer the original designs from the BD Barcelona Art Edition both online and offline.
Barcelona as a base
In the early 1970s, architecture students Pep Bonet, Christian Cirici, LLuís Clotet, Mireia Riera, and Óscar Tusquets Blanca met in the trendy nightclub Boccacio in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia. The five Spaniards shared a common background and profession. Together, they wanted to produce handcrafted furniture designs by outstanding designers and artists, far removed from the mainstream. They quickly found a name inspired by the nightclub: "Boccacio Design." This was later 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 Spanish company's beginnings, starting in 1972 with one of the 20th century's greatest artists, Salvador Dalí. Between 1972 and 1974, the Spanish master, together with Óscar Tusquets, developed the "Saliva Sofa," the legendary art sofa inspired by the lips of American film actress Mae West—actually Mary Jane West. A first prototype was created in 1973. Although the sofa was conceived from the outset as a limited edition, it was not initially produced as such. It wasn't until thirty years later that it would be released as the "„Dalilips“The sofa will be available. And other pieces of furniture by the Spanish master Dalí, designed for the French furniture designer Jean-Michel Frank, will only be included in BD Barcelona’s exclusive repertoire in the 1990s, including the „Leda Low Table“ and „Leda Chair“.
Sottsass Shiva
In its early days, however, the furniture manufacturer initially focused on developing some designs by another up-and-coming designer, Ettore Sottsass. The "„Mettsass table“, a year later the „Shiva Vase“, which to this day – presumably because of its phallic shape – is one of the most memorable artifacts of BD Barcelona.
Modernist furniture
Two years later, in 1975, it was the furniture of the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí, which demand the holistic development work of BD Barcelona. Furniture designed by Antoni Gaudí for his houses Casa Batlló and Casa Calvet is produced using the exact same elaborate production processes that were used to create the first pieces. In addition to the chairs named after the houses, „Batlló Chair“" and "„Calvet Chair“", the "„Calvet mirror“" and the "„Calvet wall-mounted coat rack“It is primarily stylistic elements such as door handles, door levers and peepholes, so-called „spies“, that allow Gaudí’s unique „Modernisme“ design style, a Spanish variant of Art Nouveau, to be experienced in one’s own home.
Paintings with figures
The introduction of Salvador Dalí's furniture and lighting collection in 1991 undoubtedly marks a unique milestone in design history, one inextricably linked to BD Barcelona, indeed made possible by the Catalan company. For the very first time, objects derived from paintings designed by Dalí were conceived for use as furnishings, imbued with form and even function. A unique approach to objects of visual art such as sculptures or paintings. Never before had furniture taken on a form from paintings, let alone been given a function. Achievements like the Lamb…„Xai“, the „Invisible Personage Chair“, the „Portlligat sunbed“The lamps „Cajones Lamp“, „Muletas Lamp“ and „Bracelli Lamp“ and the sofa „Vis-à-vis de Gala“ are certainly due to the friendly relationship between Salvador Dalí and Óscar Tusquets and the talent of Robert Descharnes and Joaquim Camps.
Art Edition of BD Barcelona
The BD Barcelona objects offered at the TAGWERC Design STORE, belonging to the "BD Barcelona Art Edition," are closer to art than to product design. The BD Barcelona objects offered at TAGWERC are handcrafted in limited, small editions, made exclusively for the customer only after an order is placed. They are unique furnishing objects, far removed from mass-produced, stocked goods. Over the years, BD Barcelona has collaborated with renowned contemporary artists such as Fernando and Humberto Campana, Stephen Burks, and others, alongside the great artists of the past., Jaime Hayon, Doshi Levien or Ross Lovegrove.
To this day, BD Barcelona has remained true to its home city of Barcelona and has maintained its ambitious manufacturing principles. BD Barcelona at TAGWERC: "Design meets art".
