Pair of armchairs by Jordi Vilanova – Barcelona 1970

Catalan interior designer and cabinet maker. He studied in the Escola del Treball i Oficis Artístics and La Llotja, and had an excellent formation at the Casa Busquets and at the decoration workshop of Lluis Gili, until he founded his own interior design company in 1952. He was also a member of the multidisciplinary artistic group La Cantonada (1960-1975). His modern furniture and approach to spaces were not understand by the great majority, to which his work was aimed, and it was a certain Catalan bourgeoisie, eager to break with old fashioned stylistic canons, who welcomed it. Great admirer and expert in Nordic design, Vilanova is known as the introducer in Spain of the white wood furniture, that is, furniture without colour or shiny varnish, functional, simple and refined. His speciality was children’s furniture, like the stool Delta that won the Silver Delta Award given by ADI/FAD in 1964. Other representative designs are: the chairs Tiracord and Billar (1961); the bunk bed Montseny MP (1961); the rocking chairs Tartera (1966) and Petit (1978) and the magazine rack Z (1987), designed together with his son Pau Vilanova. All these pieces of furniture are on display at the Design Museum of Barcelona.