Spend a chic weekend in Barcelona and chances are you will visit at least one bar or restaurant designed by Lázaro Rosa-Violán. The Catalan interior designer has seduced the city with his signature style that cleverly draws from a set of beloved styles. It’s not unusual to see influences from French Provence, the Southern Mediterranean and tropical art deco in a Rosa-Violán interior, often all mixed together.
Given the success of projects such as El Nacional, Ultramarinos and Boca Grande, it was only a matter of time before Rosa-Violán started to make design objects signed with his own name. The first – two lamps called ‘Eva’ and ‘Frank’ – have been produced by Metalarte, the Spanish decorative lighting brand.
'The lamps came about through the need to make elements that would fit within the spaces we create,' says the designer from his sumptuous – and extremely busy – modernista-style studio in Barcelona’s Eixample district. 'They have the same purpose – to transmit sensations to physical objects'.
Elegant ‘Frank’ comes in two formats – standing and table – while ‘Eva’ was designed primarily for table use, her rounded belly kept on balance with a metal support. Materials such as marble, leather, brass and bevelled glass have been used – ‘noble’ materials that also feature in a Rosa-Violán room. 'These materials, with the right treatment, go from being a ‘block’ to something that is more sculptural and soft to touch,' says the designer. 'With age they only become more attractive.'
Rosa-Violán’s studio, which trades under the name Contemporain, created a designated industrial design department to oversee the birth of 'Eva' and 'Frank'. Will they have siblings? 'Yes,' affirms Rosa-Violán, without sharing details other than, 'they are in the works.'
Of their origin, Rosa-Violán explains, 'The lamps came about through the need to make elements that would fit within the spaces we create.' Pictured left: 'Eva'. Right: 'Frank'
The elegant ‘Frank’ (left) comes in two formats – standing and table, while ‘Eva’ (right) was designed primarily for table use – her rounded belly kept on balance with a metal support
Materials such as marble, leather, brass and bevelled glass have been used – ‘noble’ materials that also feature in a Rosa-Violán room. Pictured: details of 'Eva' and 'Frank'
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Metalarte website
Photography courtesy Lázaro Rosa-Violán and Metalarte
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-upJack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictionsThe studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
-
‘Nothing just because it’s beautiful’: Performance artist Marina Abramović on turning her hand to furniture designMarina Abramović has no qualms about describing her segue into design as a ‘domestication’. But, argues the ‘grandmother of performance art’ as she unveils a collection of chairs, something doesn’t have to be provocative to be meaningful
