Born to be Wild – BD Barcelona Design from Living Edge

The design philosophy of BD Barcelona Design perfectly encapsulates the spirit of rebellious risk-taking for which the era of its foundation has come to be known. Established in 1972 by a group of renegade architects and interior designers, BD Barcelona Design has always chosen to walk on the wild side of life, creating a prestigious global design legacy in the process. Available in Australia exclusively through Living Edge, BD Barcelona Design has always valued an appreciation for nonconformist creativity, authenticity and truly unique design.

The 1970s were a time of discovery, rebellion and dramatic social transformation, and it was within this atmosphere that a group of young rebel architects and interior designers decided to form BD Barcelona Design. Originally known as Bd Ediciones de Diseño, the company was founded by Pep Bonet, Cristian Cirici, Lluís Clotet, Mireia Riera and Oscar Tusquets. From the very beginning, BD strived to combine even the most unorthodox contemporary ideas with more traditional design proclivities, all the while staying true to its mission statement of disrupting the established design order. While this speculative approach created many challenges along the way, it would also begin a design movement that, to this day, creates some of the most unusual and dynamic products on the market.

The design philosophy of BD Barcelona Design perfectly encapsulates the spirit of rebellious risk-taking for which the era of its foundation has come to be known.

Rejecting the traditional approach to design, BD Barcelona has always valued beauty over function, building a diverse portfolio of contrasting styles, developed by artisanal processes as opposed to mass production. Despite establishing a reputation as industry disruptors through its rebellious approach to design, BD Barcelona has still maintained a deliberate connection to classical design masters through more contemporary interpretations on their work, including Alfredo Häberli, Jaime Hayon, Konstantin Grcic and Ross Lovegrove, and Antoni Gaudí.

No finer example of this is the Reissuing Dalí project of the 1990s, with which a team of BD Barcelona experts led by Oscar Tusquets set out to bring to life the furniture that Salvador Dalí had sketched for designer Jean-Michel Frank. An iconic figure whose work transcends the microcosm of time, Salvador Dalí maintains an intriguing appeal that perfectly matches the ethos of BD Barcelona Design. The Leda chair and low table – both available in Australia through Living Edge – were taken from Dalí’s 1935 painting Femme à la tête de rose. BD Barcelona collaborated with sculptor Joaquim Camps to bring Dalí’s fantastical vision to life, establishing a range of furniture direct from the mind of one of history’s most fascinating figures.

Available in Australia exclusively through Living Edge, BD Barcelona Design has always valued an appreciation for nonconformist creativity, authenticity and truly unique design.

In more recent times, BD Barcelona has shown a concerted effort to collaborate with designers that share the brand’s passion for unique design languages. New collections with designers Jaime Hayon and Stephen Burks, as well as the reissuing of the Hypostilia Shelf by Oscar Tusquets, continue to blur the lines between art and design, progressing the BD Barcelona tradition of selecting designers with accentuated artistic profiles. Jaime Hayon’s Explorer Table collection and Showtime Nude Chair are perfect examples of BD Barcelona’s valuation of beauty above all else, proving that the spirit for which the brand was originally founded is still alive and well.

Half a century on from the meeting of a group of renegade architects, the rebellious design spirit upon which BD Barcelona Design was founded still endures. Living Edge proudly brings these examples of unique design languages to the shores of Australia, in the process paying tribute to the ethos of unorthodoxy present in every BD Barcelona Design product.

Rejecting the traditional approach to design, BD Barcelona has always valued beauty over function, building a diverse portfolio of contrasting styles, developed by artisanal processes as opposed to mass production.