Set of Six “Billard” Dining Chairs by Jordi Vilanova, circa 1960, Spain (CH0107)

DESCRIPTION: Set of Six “Billard” Dining Chairs by Jordi Vilanova, circa 1960, Spain Tinted Beech Wood with Hand-Woven Rush Seat Iconic Vilanova Design, currently represented in the Design Museum of Barcelona.

CONDITION: Good condition. Wear consistent with age and use.

DIMENSIONS: Height: 110cm (43in) Width: 44cm (17in) Depth: 44cm (17in) Seat Height: 43cm (17in).

REFERENCE: CH0107

ABOUT THE DESIGNER: Jordi Vilanova Bosch (Barcelona, ​​1925-1998) was a cabinetmaker, furniture designer and interior designer. In 1939 he began his training at the Escuela Industrial and at the Escuela de la Lonja, which he complemented with his work as a cabinetmaker, first at Casa Busquets (artistic furniture and decoration) and then in the workshop of the cabinetmaker Lluís Gili. In 1952 he set up his own business as an interior designer and designer of furniture and lighting, and from 1955 he began his work of study, reflection and design around children’s and youth furniture and interiors, on which he would develop innovative proposals. In this field, it is worth highlighting the 1964 Delta de Plata award from the ADI FAD that he received for the Delta children’s stool. In 1960 he opened a studio and shop on the corner of Ganduxer and Freixa Street in Barcelona, ​​which remained open until 2005. Vilanova offered its own range of furniture, lighting and other accessories for home furnishings with a strong Nordic influence. From this establishment, interior design and custom-made furniture projects were also developed for homes, hotels, bank headquarters, shops, social-health facilities and offices, among others. Together with the jeweller Aureli Obispo, the painter Joan Vila-Grau, the ceramist Jordi Aguadé and the architect Jordi Bonet, he founded La Cantonada (1960-1975), a multidisciplinary group that defended the value of producing objects in small series, adapted to the needs of everyday life and with the values ​​of artisanal creation as a revulsive to the acceleration and massification of industrialised products. His works were regularly shown at Hogarotel between 1960 and 1972 and also at various international fairs (New York, Paris…). In 1962, the group took over Ars Sacra, an institution dedicated to restoration and ornamentation of churches with the aim of creating more austere and contemporary liturgical objects. The group was the founder of the magazine Cuestiones de Arte (1967-1974). Jordi Vilanova was a member of the FAD, the Official College of Interior Decorators and Designers of Barcelona, ​​the National Union College of Decorators and the American National Society of Interior Designers (NSID), among others.

ABOUT THE STYLE: The Billiard chair was designed in 1961 by the Catalan Jordi Vilanova. It is a piece with a marked identity, the result of the synthesis of a modern taste for functionality and the austerity of traditional chairs, which Vilanova respectfully reinterpreted in his designs. The structure is made of pine wood and the seat of bulrush. The concept of this chair revolves around the billiard sticks, which are reproduced in the long back legs that in turn form the backrest and give it stylized lines. A great admirer and connoisseur of Nordic design, Vilanova is known as the introducer in Spain and Catalonia of white wood furniture, that is, furniture without color or glossy varnishes. Vilanova defends the functionality, simplicity and purity of his works, halfway between tradition and modernity. Catalan interior designer and cabinetmaker, Jordi Vilanova enrolled in 1939 at the Escuela de Trabajo y Oficios Artísticos de la Lonja. He completed his training in the workshop of Busquets, and between 1940 and 1953 he collaborated in the studio of Lluís Gili. Jordi Vilanova was founder and promoter of the Catalan art magazine “Questions d’Art” (1967-74). In 1974 he opened premises with a permanent exhibition of furniture and upholstery of his own design, forming part of the Official College of Interior Decorators and Designers of Barcelona and the SAD. His modern furniture and his way of resolving spaces were initially aimed at a large public of limited economic resources and, consequently, homes with less living space. However, this great majority did not understand his proposal. Instead, it was the Catalan bourgeoisie, eager to break with outdated stylistic canons, who embraced his work. His specialty was furniture for children, such as the Delta stool, which won the Delta de Plata Prize awarded by the ADI/FAD in 1964. He held exhibitions of his work in Scandinavia. Among his most representative designs are the Tiracord and Billar chairs (1961), the Montseny MP bunk bed (1961), the Tartera (1966) and Petit (1978) rocking chairs and the Z magazine rack (1987) designed together with his son Pau Vilanova Vila-Abadal. It is currently represented in the Design Museum of Barcelona.