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This stunning allegory of an imaginary architectural order bears a majestic, yet slender vertical shape creating an interplay of contrasts between matter and light where the sturdiness of the heavy bronze base stands in contrast with the lightweight ribbon shade.
Since it is prone to damage if held half way up, in order to make it easier to carry the top incorporates a leather gripping point. An optional, wider stabilising base is also available for use in busy areas.
This is a superb, radiant sculpture of light created by one of Barcelona’s most renowned late XX century designer couples.
Jordi Miralbell
Jordi Miralbell and Mariona Raventós, a couple of craftsmen of design that had little by little come to build a variety of pieces of domestic lighting and furniture, pure and poetic.
Jordi Miralbell, born in 1953, studied with Mariona Raventós in the design school Elisava, in Barcelona, between 1974 and 1977. Two years after, they set up their own interior and graphic design studio, m&j.
They soon expanded their professional career to special designs for movies and photography, publicity and stage design, and space lighting projects. In 1986, they also started designing pieces of furniture, lighting and complements through their new production company, Neo-Series, that was still inspired by with their crafts style. In fact, one of their first lamps, the Arco, included a parchment shade that Mariona would hand paint. Among their first works, we may find a series of fashion dummies, or a furniture and lighting collection called Atmósfera that was composed of the Arco lamps, the Sud and Vertical lamps, and the Oceanía, Bere-B and Asia pieces of furniture.
Their conception of design led them in 1989 to be part of Santa & Cole, for which they had already designed some pieces of furniture, and they ended up becoming, two years later, partners of the company. Miralbell and Raventós were responsible afterwards for the art direction of the firm, and as a part of the editorial committee they selected the products that the firm would edit. Many pieces of furniture and lighting elements edited by Santa & Cole at that time account for it: the Dórica lamp; the Pie de Garza lamp (1997), awarded with the VII Premio de Diseño Nuevo Estilo in 1994; the lamps Turca and Suma (1999), Gala, Nova (1996), Disco (1995), Vertical, Tosca y Comodín (1994), and Boa and Sólida (1993); the Sistema Matricial, an interchangeable system of shades that allows to offer customized lamps; the Nif Naf Nuf, a set of three stools; and the Oslo armchair, young and cosy.
In this team, Mariona expressed herself better with materials, textures and color, she represented the sensual part of the project, whereas Jordi contributed with volume, proportion, structure and supervising that the whole object will work. Their projects are simple and warm, they live together peacefully with all kinds of furniture. Their lighting elements offer different ways to give light thanks to parchment, wood, raffia or cotton and their poetic forms, thus reflecting the team's conception on life: "design is the art of turning what is practical into a desired thing, into human warmness, into something that men have created."
Santa & Cole is an editing company from Barcelona that lives for industrial design.