BD Barcelona Design Furniture

Just as its interior products are regarded as works of art, BD Barcelona’s luxury exterior furnishings are veritable pieces of outdoor sculpture sure to draw a crowd; that is, of course, unless you prefer to keep them all to yourself. From chairs made from rotomolded polyethylene to benches made from extruded and cast aluminum, BD Barcelona infuses any exterior space with eye-catching, functional designs, some of which also display a playful side. Case in point: the BDLove ECO Bench by the incomparable visual artist and product designer Ross Lovegrove. Its luscious shape is sure to bring a smile, while its generous dimensions allows for enjoyment by up to ten people at a time!

Founded in 1972 by a group of young Spanish architects who sought to manufacture designs in which no other companies had any interest, BD Barcelona’s founders – Pep Bonet, Cristian Cirici, Lluís Clotet, Mireia Riera, and Oscar Tusquets Blanca– still own the company today. The Spanish-born company’s mission was to produce both its own furniture creations and those by designers of the past and present. Opting for artisanal techniques in lieu of mass production – then and now – has ensured that BD Barcelona only puts forth the very finest in luxury furnishings, whether designed for indoors or out.

Over the years, BD Barcelona has garnered numerous prestigious awards including the Premio Nacional de Diseño (1989), the European Community Design Prize (1990), and the Red Dot Design Award “Best of the Best” (2011). Today, its outdoor furniture can be found in countries all over the world. Despite its global recognition, nearly all BD Barcelona’s manufacturing – which combines varietal industrial and artisan processes – is still carried out locally within the Barcelona area.

You’d be hard-pressed to find another design company so specialized anywhere else in the world. That’s why here at CLIMA Home, we feel privileged to offer BD Barcelona’s unique outdoor pieces and public seating to our loyal and discerning customer base.

History

The abbreviation “BD” originally stood for Bocaccio Design, as the idea for the company was born at Bocaccio – the famed nightclub located on Barcelona’s Calle Tuset that is significant within the city’s urban history. Oriol Regàs, the owner of the club, was an early partner in the company. After Regas departed, the name was changed to BD Ediciones de Diseño. It wasn’t until 2007 that the company name became BD Barcelona Design.

Award-winning Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira was one of the first to bring his personality to the new design range with the Flamingo Lamp, which was born concurrently with the company in 1972… and is still in production. At the time, BD also produced some disparate and risqué objects, including the “Hermaphrodite” Cushions by painters Eduardo Arranz-Bravo and Francesco Bartolozzi and Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass Jr.’s phallic Shiva Vase.

Many iconic outdoor designs were invented during that early period, including the instantly recognizable Dalilips Sofa, designed in 1972 by Salvador Dalí and Oscar Tusquets; in 2004, it was reintroduced to the BD collection in rotomolded polyethylene form, making it suitable for outdoor use. Moreover, the Perforano and Catalano benches by Oscar Tusquets and Lluís Clotet, which have been part of the BD catalog since 1974, were taken from a bench designed by storied Spanish architect Antoní Gaudí for Barcelona’s Güell Park in Barcelona.

By the late 1970s, BD became a point of reference for design culture in Spain. During the ’80s and ’90s, it oversaw the creation of many memorable outdoor pieces that have since become classics. The company wowed the world in the 1980s when it famously reproduced furniture designs by Gaudí. BD Barcelona turned heads once again in the early ’90s when it introduced an exclusive collection of furniture and lamps with designs by Dalí, including the Portlligat Sunbed. Few companies in the world can claim so many products still on the market after 40 years.

Designers

BD affords the creatives with whom it collaborates the freedom to employ varied materials, processes, and finishes, and experimentation is always encouraged. Characterized by its uniqueness, superior quality, and short-series productions, BD Barcelona’s outdoor product portfolio includes pieces by some of the world’s most recognized designers and artists, including:

• Alfredo Häberli, whose El Poeta (Poet) Bench in perforated painted steel has become the brand’s best-selling bench
• Jaime Hayon (Gardenias, Showtime, and Showtime Poltrona collections)
• Konstantin Grcic (Bench B)
• Ross Lovegrove, whose BDLove Collection opened a new era in 2001 for public benches made from rotational-molded polyethylene.

Projects

BD Barcelona’s outdoor collections grace the exteriors of private residences, public parks and plazas, train and metro stations, historical landmarks, international hotels and restaurants, office buildings, and corporate headquarters. Examples include Lord’s Cricket Ground in London and Faculdade das Américas (FAM) University in São Paulo, Brazil.

“In the beginning we had an idea that we still pursue: to reproduce historic pieces by the great masters of furniture design.”