The pioneers of designer furniture in the Basque Country, the protagonists of a travelling exhibition and documentary
2021 November 4
- The project, called 'Design Artisans', focuses on the people who in the 1970s and 1980s turned design furniture into a new industrial sector in the Basque Country.
- Organised by the Habic cluster, it will visit Bilbao, Vitoria and Donostia during the Mugak/ Biennial. The exhibition will be located in the public space and will be accompanied by the screening of the documentary.
- There are eight companies whose founders are featured in the documentary: Akaba, Mosel&Arkaia, B.lux, Enea, Imat, Ondarreta, Sellex and Treku. A piece from each of them makes up the exhibition.
The Habic cluster today presented its project 'Artisans of Design' as part of the Mugak/ International Architecture Biennial of the Basque Country. Consisting of a travelling exhibition and a documentary, the association will take it to the three Basque capitals throughout the month of November.
In the 70s and 80s, there were a number of people who were committed to design in order to create an industry that did not exist in the Basque Country: furniture and design products for furnishing spaces. Now, Habic's project takes a look at these people's journey and the evolution of their companies up to the present day.
The exhibition, curated by Raquel Ares and Iñaki Albistur, from the San Sebastian studio Arquimaña, will visit Bilbao from 11 November, Vitoria-Gasteiz from 18 November and Donostia on 25 November. The three events will be accompanied by a documentary directed by Ane Rotaetxe, from the Bilbao production company Begira, which can be seen free of charge in the three cities. "We have collected in a very human way the testimony of a self-made generation, with a lot of enthusiasm for what they did and who leave a great legacy in the territory", emphasised Rotaetxe.
Also present at today's presentation were the pioneers of the design and protagonists of the documentary, who were given a souvenir of the experience. They are Jose Angel Díez Mintegui, one of the founders of Akaba (Usurbil, 1985); José Patricio Álvarez de Arkaya, who founded Mosel&Arkaia S.L. in Vitoria-Gasteiz (1962); Agustín Ibarretxe, founder of B. lux in Markina, Bizkaia (1979); Iñaki Elizegi and Mila Telleria, cooperativists in Enea-Eredu in Legorreta (1963); Jesús Guibelalde, founder of Imat (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1974); Marilis Galardi, founder together with Juanjo Arratibel of Ondarreta on the Donostia beach of the same name (1975); Andrés Muñoz, founder of Sellex (Donostia, 1977); and Manolo Aldabaldetreku, who founded Treku in Zarautz (1947).
"This project brings society closer to the people who created from nothing an activity that unites design, industry and architecture. This industry is present in the best buildings in the world and these objects are manufactured in the Basque Country", said Xabier Pérez de Arenaza, architect and head of architectural projects at Habic.
The exhibition, which explores the humble origins of these companies, is made up precisely of eight selected pieces, one from each, which are displayed in custom-made modules that will be installed in public spaces: Euskadi Square in Bilbao, Machete Square in Vitoria and Zuloaga Square in Donostia. "In these urban environments of architectural interest, the aim is to generate a dialogue between the public space, the exhibition and the objects themselves", explained the curator, Raquel Ares.
The pieces are the 'Gorka' chair, by Akaba; 'Pieza Única Nº 394', by Arkaia; the 'Regina' lamp, by B-lux; the 'BCN' chair, by Enea; the 'Máster basic' bench, by Imat; the 'Bob' chair, by Ondarreta; the 'Aero' bench, by Sellex; and a coffee table from the 'Gau' collection, by Treku.
International air for the end of the week
Alberto Veiga, of the Barozzi Veiga tandem, will be at the Basque Institute of Architecture this afternoon. His studio has accumulated numerous constructions around the world, including the headquarters of Ribera del Duero wines (Burgos), the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts in Lausanne (Switzerland), the Tanzhaus in Zurich (Switzerland) and the Szczecin Philharmonic (Poland), which earned them the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Award in 2015, one of the many awards they have accumulated. He will be in conversation with Marta Rincón, from Acción Cultural Española, at 19:30h.
More speakers will close the week tomorrow, Friday. It will be the turn of the Catalan architect Óscar Tusquets, renowned for his role as an architectural thinker and agitator. He will talk with journalist Mitxel Ezquiaga at the Basque Institute of Architecture at 18:00. Afterwards, at 19:30, the Frenchman Rudy Ricciotti will be in conversation with the director of Housing, Land and Architecture of the Basque Government, Pablo García Astrain. Ricciotti is one of the most renowned architects in his country and an architectural provocateur par excellence who, at the same time, produces works with an enormous poetic charge. He is the author of renowned works such as the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations in Marseilles, the Department of Islamic Arts at the Louvre and the Rivesaltes concentration camp memorial in the south of France.
Europan European congress kicks off
Tomorrow, Friday, European architecture will be even more prominent: the Kursaal will welcome the Europan congress. 300 architecture and urban planning professionals from all over the continent will meet to discuss the future of the city and architecture, in a forum held between sessions of the European competition and bringing together landscape architects, urban planners, institutional leaders and promising young European architects from 9 countries and 40 locations.hoto: Mikel Blasco