The spirited furniture manufacturer bd Barcelona was founded in 1972 as “bd Ediciones de Diseño”, a collaboration of a talented group of architects, designers and art talents. Since then bd Barcelona has had a few name changes but the mantra remains the same, merging art and design.
The 1970’s were a progressive time of art, design and art theory and the Spanish manufacturing house was born from a frustration of a lack of connection between theory and production. The cause of this group of rebels resulted in the production of furniture, objects and accessories, the concepts of which being theorized the world over but unavailable in shops. It became a vehicle for the experiential works, dealing with object perception and reacting to a societal change.
It’s no surprise then, the calibre of names which comprise the past and current catalogue of bd Barcelona products, famously designed or derived from creative greats of times past. Names like surrealism great Salvador Dali, architectural genius’ Giuseppe Terragni, Spanish pioneer Antoni Gaudi and jack of all trades Charles Rennie Mackintosh all placing their personal stamp on works rolled out of the bd workshop. Some pieces by Dali and Gaudi are still in production.
The current bd catalogue adopts the same approach, and employs the minds of contemporary designers such as Jaime Hayon, Konstantin Grcic and Ross Lovegrove, creating uniquely styled pieces, all of which tell a story of their own. We’ve recently written about Hayon’s Showtime (here), Grcic’s Table B and Chair B (here) and the bd Barcelona recent exhibitions in Milan (here).
As we speak, bd Barcelona is celebrating the first year in its new showroom, naturally locally on the Barcelonan coastline where current production products are showcased and available for purchase.
In exciting news, the Spanish veteran is celebrating its 40th year and to commemorate is releasing an exclusive limited edition handful of hand-painted Jaime Hayon Showtime collection vases, painted by the collection designer guru himself, continuing to successfully marry design and art.
The bd Barcelona back catalogue of product is a fascinating object essay, each with their own purpose and story, here are some of the KE-ZU favourites, and you can see the full museum here.
