MILAN — Antoni Gaudí is known because the Catalan architect and designer of the yet-to-be-finished Sagrada Família Basilica in Barcelona. Almost a century after Gaudí’s dying, he rose to worldwide fame as soon as once more when Pope Francis (days earlier than his personal dying in April) declared him as “Venerable,” an early step within the path to being formally canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church. However few folks know Gaudí as a designer of inside objects, admitted Jane Keltner de Valle, cofounder of New York’s Casa Valle.
On Thursday, Tribeca gallery Casa Valle, which Keltner de Valle based along with her husband, designer Giancarlo Valle, will bringing Gaudí’s legacy as a furnishings designer to New York throughout NYCxDesign, which is able to run Might 15 to 21.
“A Timeless Masterpiece Reinterpreted,” coordinated in collaboration with Spanish furnishings agency BD Barcelona, will function a reimagined model of the Batlló chair that Gaudí first designed for the early twentieth century Casa Batlló, a UNESCO World Heritage web site. Characterised by its lack of straight traces, the chair was tailored to the human physique, and its ergonomic nature was an innovation for its time. Casa Valle and BD Barcelona, the furnishings firm that at present holds the rights to the chair, have teamed for an ebony stain model out there in simply 50 items — value upon request. Casa Valle mentioned that every re-edited chair is an actual copy of the unique, handcrafted by artisans in Barcelona. Every one additionally comes with an authenticity certificates signed by the director of the Gaudí Catedra.
BD Barcelona and Casa Valle first got here collectively on the Salone del Cellular.Milano commerce present in 2024, and ultimately determined to staff on reinterpreting the image of Spain’s Modernisme interval.
“A lot of design is about context, so a part of the thrill for us is round displaying these chairs in New York, on this industrial Tribeca house, in dialog with our assortment and different historic items from different cultures and eras,” Keltner de Valle mentioned.
Jane Keltner de Valle and Giancarlo Valle
Fujio Emura
Portrait of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, 1852-1926. (Picture by: Common Historical past Archive/Common Photographs Group by way of Getty Photographs)
Common Photographs Group by way of Getty
The Batlló chair in its authentic varnished oak model and Gaudí’s Calvet armchair and Calvet stool reproduced by BD Barcelona may also be out there and displayed alongside the items sourced and curated by Casa Valle’s husband-and-wife duo, who regard the re-edition of the Batlló chair as “a return to handcraft and natural type.”
Keltner de Valle is an entrepreneur and former Architectural Digest type director. Casa Valle, which was based a 12 months in the past, is the design gallery arm of the Studio Giancarlo Valle design follow.
Born in 1852, Gaudí is sometimes called “God’s Architect.” A person of deep religion, his biggest endeavour was the Basilica de la Sagrada Família, an enormous basilica consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI. It’s anticipated to lastly open in 2026, marking 100 years for the reason that architect’s dying.
Pope Francis has referred to Gaudí as a “nice mystic.” In concrete design phrases, Gaudí was a pillar of the Modernisme interval, Spain’s distinctive model of Artwork Nouveau. Enthusiastic about utopian socialism and structure, Gaudí’s varieties and shapes have been completely recent, otherworldly and are generally known as a precursor of the Surrealist motion, of which Salvator Dalí was a key proponent. Dali’s furnishings items are additionally reproduced and bought by BD Barcelona.
The Batlló Chair by Antoni Gaudí reimagined by Casa Valle x BD Barcelona.
Nacho Alegre