'El diseño es una cuestión de adjetivos . . . los sustantivos están todos en El Corte Inglés'

'El diseño es una cuestión de adjetivos. .. los sustantivos están todos en El Corte Inglés' A Round Table Discussion on the State of Spanish Design with Pierluigi Cattermole, José MarÃ-a Cruz Novillo, Enrique Gil CerracÃ-n, Frank Memelsdorff and Jesús San Vicente Fashion, interior, industrial and graphic design and designers have all played a prominent role in the make-over of Spain in the last twenty years. Design is the backdrop against which social transformation has played itself out in Spain ever since the transición. Spanish design became one of the country's major selling points in an attempt to turn its back on its past and align its image with those of other cosmopolitan urban centers. Any consideration of recent Spanish culture would be impossible without taking into account the design work of Oscar Tusquets, André Ricard, Fernando Amat, Enrique Satué, José MarÃ-a Cruz Novillo, Õ gata Ruiz de la Prada, Adolfo DomÃ-nguez, Javier de Juan, Alfredo Corazón and hundreds of other designers who have helped redesign every aspect of Spain from governmental and corporate images to matchbook covers, street signs, chairs and suits. With the impottance of design in mind, we decided that a round-table discussion with professionals in the field would be of interest to our readers . Pierluigi Cattermole, who took part in our round-table on the movida in out first volume, agreed to help us arrange the meeting. Our discussion coincided with the opening of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina SofÃ-as retrospective on the evolution of industrial design in Spain from May 13 to August 31, 1998.' 234 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies "El Diseño llega al Museo" reads the headline of the lead article in the May 9th, 1998 edition of Babelia, the weekly arts supplement of Spain's most widely-circulated newspaper, El Pais. This article reviews the contents of the exhibit, which represents the first time a major Spanish museum had done a retrospective on industrial design. The juxtaposition of industrial products and art in a museum setting caused some controversy. Certain bureaucratic aspects of the exhibit itself underscored this tension. In the rooms where objects of industrial design readily available today in Spain were shown, there were stern signs everywhere advising visitors not to touch the displays, pointing out a utilitarian/artistic dichotomy in the most visible way possible . The exhibit was impressive in its breadth. It was divided into five spaces: Antecedentes y Protodiseño 1990-1929; Primeras Propuestas 1930-1959; Nacimiento y Desarrollo 1960-1979; El Boom del Diseño Español 1980-1989; Normalización e Internacionalización Años 90; and Arte y Diseño, Territorio de Frontera. One of the most interesting aspects of the exhibit was that it also occupied the newlydesigned plaza outside of the museum where a number of large objects ranging from a jet fighter and a coach from the Talgo Pendular to a giant-size model of Oscar Tusquets' prototype for a new telephone were placed. The exhibit also contained an interesting space, developed by Pierluigi Cattermole, in which visitors could watch elements from Noticiarios Documentales (or NoDos, propagandistic newsreels shown before populr movies during the Franco regime) which portrayed the evolution in Spanish industrial design under GeneralÃ-simo Franco. In addition to comments on the nature of the exhibit and what it implies for the state of Spanish design our conversation took an number of interesting twists which took us from the place of the designer as artist to the tole of the state in design projects. We will, as is our practice in these matters, let the words of the designers speak for themselves. Through the good offices of our friend Pierluigi Cattermole we were privileged to be able to speak with four designers and architects who took time from their busy schedules to provide our readers with what we believe is an informative look at Spanish design. We thank all of them for their contributions. Pierluigi Cattermole is the director of Experimenta, one of Spain's leading design journals. You may find out more about Experimenta at their website, http://www.ed-experimenta...