Exhibition chronicles history of Catalan industrial design

Barcelona (ACN).- For the first time, a new exhibition will present all of the Delta Prize winning designs from the last 50 years. Delta prizes are awarded by the Association of Industrial Design and Fostering Craft Arts (ADI-FAD). The exhibition called ‘Delta Awards: 50 years with design 1960-2010’ is taking place at the Palau Robert of Barcelona. It will include five decades of Catalan industrial design through 150 original pieces and images, placing the designs in their historical, political and cultural context.

One of the exhibition’s curators, Viviana Narotzky, said that visitors will be able to “recognise” pieces that form parts of their personal histories as well as pieces that “they have lived with for many years”.

The Cota 247 (1968) and Impala (1962) motorcycles from Montesa, designed by Leopoldo Milà, Miguel Milà’s TMC lamp (1961), André Ricard’s Copenhagen ashtray (1966), the Citromatic Instant MPZ-2 juicer (1970) from Braun, designed by Dieter Rams and Gabriel Lluelles, and the Cuks rug (2003) by Nani Marquina are among the 150 pieces on show at the exhibition. 

Viviana Narotzky said that many of the pieces can still be seen daily throughout the city, such as public benches and bus stops. She added that design “is not something that is separate from the user, but rather a part of people’s lives”. Narotzky also assured that the exhibition tries to create a more “narrow and intense” relationship between the entrepreneurial world and the world of design. The last part of ‘Delta Awards: 50 years with design 1960-2010’ includes technological objects that deal with sustainable and ecological design.