This new series, Design bites, unveil the backstage of contemporary creation. Tackling various topics from personal designer processes to the position of Collectible design on the global design market; these bites offer different views to suit all tastes. Today we talk with Il·lacions design gallery.

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COLLECTIBLE: What tips would you give to a collector who wishes to start collecting contemporary design?

il·lacions design gallery: We see it daily. Our visitors are amazed when they see all our unique offer of objects and furniture, which they will not be able to see elsewhere and which have been created by more than 40 designers and artists from our city. Nobody with a certain sensitivity likes to have the same furniture as their friends, homogeneity, on the contrary, they look for what makes them feel unique, that transmits sensations, vibrations, good vibes. When you immerse yourself in the world of gallery design, single piece or limited series, and it catches you, you awaken the collector within you and you cannot stop thinking about that piece, that object of desire that "beats" inside you and that you will not stop until you get it. We could say that we are a kind of paradise with the forbidden, the temptation that will awaken the clientele with sensitivity.

“... the incipient international market of 'author' design that we call ourselves, the 'other' design that does not work for the industry, but focuses on to the unique piece or the limited series.”

C: How do you position your city in the global design market? What makes your city unique, trends?

ILDG: Barcelona is a city that has excluded itself from the world of design and also from the world of design galleries. Only the 4 major design editors and manufacturers have survived and have been able to quickly rethink and focus on the global market. After the impact of the first crisis of 2008, which dragged on for many years, with a devastating impact on the economy, most of the population has tried to survive by selling to mass tourism, renting their own houses on Airbnb or setting up tapas bars one side by side. Cultural enterprises have been put aside because no one has believed that they can generate wealth. Easy money has been the refrain of this eternal song. Now, with the new impact of the pandemic, it has been seen that that model was not sustainable. That you have to bet on much deeper and more serious concepts, as in all the potential of the talent that exists in the city, with more than 14 design schools and a lot of creators who need to give way to their infinite ideas. There we are, giving them a space and support to sell their creations to our own city and also to the incipient international market of "author" design that we call ourselves, the "other" design that does not work for the industry but focuses on to the unique piece or the limited series.

C: Can you talk about the designers you present for COLLECTIBLE SALON? What makes their practice and pieces unique?

ILDG: All the designers that we present have characteristics that make them and their pieces very peculiar. Just like in the gallery, we spend the day explaining the stories behind each unique object we display. To highlight a very specific case, I would mention Jordi Ribaudí, a native of Igualada (a town 50 km from Barcelona) one of the leading European cities in the leather market (Armani, Christian Dior, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Versace or Loewe buy a large part of their leather there to make their exclusive fashion accessories). Jordi, the grandson of tanners, calls for new uses of buffalo leather, for example, in the form of unique and surprising objects and furniture, very close to the artistic and sculptural world.

Another great specialist would be Antoni Arola, who for years has been involved in the development of excellent luminaires for the industry but also in the development of very successful light installations and that he has now wanted to bring to domestic homes through his Reflexions Micra proposal.

Turbina makes virtue of their exclusive material "Stone cast" to make functional pieces with a very poetic charge, or Joan Tarragó, who once again makes his artistic talent available to draw a more than special carpet. Andreu Carulla develops his creativity in a system of shelves made of aluminium structure with uprights and shelves lined with leather. Max Enrich delights us with a sculptural stainless steel lamp with an atypical configuration, Cristian Herrera an armchair made with polished plumbing iron reductions, MSubiràs a polished iron table that hides the chairs inside, Antoni Pallejà (APO x Sivasdescalzo) brings us the technology of structural aluminium profiles turned into a side table, Clàudia Girbau a minimalist and elegant brass vase, and Rosa Cortiella a ceramic with a delicate configuration and process.

Josep Vila Capdevila (Aparentment) directly from Macael brings us a rabidly different and disruptive marble console, Curro Claret a stool generated from his social design, Roger Coll a functional ceramic sculpture, in the shape of a table, and Josep Maynou humor, creativity and freshness with its Plunger lamp.

C: What is the relation you hold with the designers you work with?

ILDG: Together we create an ecosystem that we want to grow and that is based on mutual understanding, without restrictions, from the will and good faith. If it goes well for me, so will you. This incipient ecosystem brings together institutions, schools, designers and also, little by little, buyers. In our 250m2 space, we present a permanent showcase of pieces by our designers and artists, as well as the Main Room, a gallery for temporary exhibitions, and the cabinet of curiosities, a shop, with small unique objects made by our artists. My background as a designer allows me to empathize with the creative process of different designers and my side as curator, gallery owner, provides the necessary vision that the market needs.

About il·lacions design gallery (Spain)

Based in Barcelona, il·lacions design gallery showcases 21st-century unique design pieces and limited edition series that transcend industry conventions and are completely distinct from industrial design. The gallery seeks to be the catalyst to stimulate new discussions on design, promote consideration of contemporary values, and generate a cultural heritage reflective of this current time and place.