Museu del Disseny in Barcelona

The Museu del Disseny de Barcelona right off the Placa de les Glòries was completed in 2014 and located in a neo-Brutalist building affectionately nicknamed "Grapedora", the Stapler.  I love "grapedora" - exactly what the stapler does!  The building to the right is the Agbar Tower, see my post dated September  .
Barcelona's new design museum brought 4 local design archives under one roof, making it pretty expansive as it goes for design collections.   Comprising of over 70,000 pieces from the city's ceramics, textiles decorative arts and graphic arts. 
These pieces from the fourth century AD to the present which include internationally-famed collections of medieval fabrics, sixteenth-century Catalan enamelled glass and ceramics to to mention a few.   And there is an additional area solely dedicated to special exhibitions.

The mechanical to the escalators are pretty cool with its glass panels exposing the interior workings of the escalator.

 A pleasant yellow adorned the walls.

I like that the MBM Architects kept the facade of the building simple, using only one material verses some of the building that I see in the states with numerous (way too many) surface materials of different colors and textures.  Construction began in 2009 and was completed in 2013 for the opening in 2014.

The collection of Decorative Arts was originally housed in a museum created in 1932, a beautiful, diverse collection of European decorative arts from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution.   In 1995, the museum enlarged its collection to include design with the intent to preserve and record the history of particularly that of Spanish industrial design with such item as glass ware, furniture, clocks, tapestries, wallpaper, carriages...

 

"Combined toilet and washbasin" by Gabriele and Oscar Buratti.  The water is filtered from the sink and reuses it in the toilet.  2009.
The Rocking Stool with the blue seat by Ana Mir is made of galvanized steel and polypropylene.

I first encountered this slick design of a sink and toilet combination at Cornelia and Company in Barcelona in 2011.   This very attractive store was like Spain's version of a Dean and DeLucca.  Unfortunately it has been closed for some time.

A versatile sideboard made of Sycamore wood that has starred in many films designed by Antoni Casadesus.  1989.

More designs of the 20th century.

The butterfly chair, also known as a BKF chair or Hardoy chair, is a style of chair featuring a tubular frame and a large sling hung from the frame's highest points, creating a suspended seat. The frame of the chair is generally painted black. The sling was originally leather but  today it is mostly made out of canvas.

These Butterfly Chairs were originally my parents (the canvas covers are new) and they currently live on my patio. They are at least 64 years old. Truly one of the top icons of modern international design!

Extraordinaries is a collection of ceramics, furniture, glassware and other pieces from the 3rd to the 20th century.

Flooring tiles from the 1500's.

Gorgeous ceramic plate from the mid 1450's monogrammed with IHS (Jesus) in the center.

I would love to have all of these plates in my pantry!

Such unique enameled glassware painted by Xavier Nogues and Ricard Crespo, Cataluyna, 1924.
Xavier Nogués i Casas, Barcelona 1873 - 1940, was a Catalan painter, draftsman and engraver.  His work in Noucentisme, is a satirical humor and where he expresses best is in his drawings and his famous cartoons which he clearly expressed with his figures on the glasses.

More work by Nogues, Ceramic tiles from Restaurante Can Culleretes, Barcelona, 1923.

The Museums textile collection is remarkable with it history from the 16th century up to modern day.  The collections include Coptic, Hispano-Arab, Gothic and Renaissance fabrics along with embroidery and lacework.  There is approximately five hundred pieces of jewelry that were made and produced in Spain.

The body was set free by the French Revolution, when Napoleon ordered the suppression of the symbols of aristocracy such items as corsets, paniers, breeches and heeled shoes.

I love the collection of mannequins. 

Such stylish dresses of the 1920's and 1930's.

Gorgeous dress made of silk taffeta and bambula embroidered with beads.

Pretty mod and elegant!  On display is a quote by Charles Dickens which I adore. " But fashions are like human beings.  They come in, nobody knows when, why, or how; they go out, nobody knows when, why, or how.  Everything is like life, in my opinion, if you look at it in that point of view.

 

The graphic arts collection, located on the top floor,  displays a significant selections of typography as well as prints that include posters, packaging, binders and labels.  Such printers include Elzeviriana, Bobes, Seix Barral, Tobella and Naips Comas (makers of playing cards).

Very 1970's.

Being a lover of horses, I was attracted to this poster.

Great graphics.  Come to Spain!   And join me on my Jewels of Northern Spain tour in September of 2019.