BD Barcelona began life in 1972 as Boccaccio Design, founded by some of Spain’s most famous architects and designers, including Pep Bonet and Oscar Tusquets. In 1979, already rebaptized BD Ediciones de Diseño, it moved into the Catalan modernist landmark, Casa Thomas, designed by one of the masters of the movement, Lluis Doménech i Montaner. BD occupied the ground floor and basement of that wedding-cake-of-a-building for over 30 years, offering its own furnishings and design products along with a selection of pieces by top international designers. The showroom became a hub for the local design community, a point of reference for international design and for exhibitions and events.
A new chapter in the company’s history began in October this year when BD opened Barcelona Design Gallery in a 600-square-metre ex-industrial space. The new showroom is a destination – there’s not much around it besides workshops and modest housing blocks. But that is likely to change soon, with buildings like the Media-Tic by Cloud 9, the 2011 WAF’s World Building of the Year, signaling a new high-tech future for the area.
With a new single-minded focus on its own brand, the showroom devotes itself to the BD collection, which ranges from reproductions of furniture by Gaudí and Salvadore Dali, to new work by famous contemporary designers the likes of Konstantin Grcic and Jaime Hayon. Behind the black-painted entry facade is an ample courtyard space used to showcase the brand’s outdoor collection and for casual receptions. In the interior, low-lighting lends drama to the “collections within the collection” showcased on raised plinths.
BD Barcelona Design Gallery, Ramon Turró 126, Barcelona. Monday to Friday, 11:00 am to 8:00 pm.