Mobles 114 is a company characterized by its sobriety and the firmness with which it has always stood between tradition and innovation.
How would you define the path along these 50 years?
Throughout these 50 years, Mobles 114 has built a solid catalog that promotes comfort and quality without ever departing from its principles.
According to you, what is the most iconic product in the furniture catalog?
I think the most iconic product in the catalog is the Torres Clavé armchair. I have enjoyed the Ona coat rack all my life and I intend to purchase the Nuta stool soon.
A special balance between, on the one hand, fidelity to their principles in maintaining an open language with refined and careful proposals in every detail for so many years and, on the other hand, determination in the commitment to all of us.
How would you define the path along these 50 years?
The coherence to maintain the principles of a design that originally stems from our environment, with qualities that give rise to ways of doing that only time grants and that are identified in those subliminal aspects that clearly show the merit of Mobles 114’s genuine work.
According to you, what is the most iconic product in the furniture catalog?
Undoubtedly, the Tria system is the one that best defines and synthesizes the method of its creators, not only because of its idea of a versatile piece of furniture that offers solutions in all areas, but also for the variety of creative solutions in the small constructive details.
Secondly, the Ona coat rack made with Montse Padrós, as a sample of a happy conception of design.
And also the Torres Clavé armchair as a token of a learned and committed tradition in defense of social values and rights.
America Sanchez (without accent marks), the name used by Juan Carlos Pérez Sánchez, was born in Argentina and moved to Barcelona in 1965. He is recognized as a graphic designer, illustrator and photographer, and has an extensive career in these disciplines.
In 1992 he was awarded the National Design Award for his excellence in the field of design. His graphic works are exhibited at the MoMA in New York, while his photographic work can be seen at the French National Library, the Aurillac Museum, the IVAM Centre Julio González and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.
In 1973, America Sanchez created the Corporate Identity for Mobles 114, an initiative backed by JM Massana, JM Tremoleda and M Ferrer, the founders of the brand. This proposal, which projected a highly contemporary and modern Corporate image for its time, was redesigned by Sanchez on four occasions.
This article presents the first sketches and graphic material used in the 1970s.
Images courtesy of the Design Museum of Barcelona – America Sanchez Collection
Umberto121 is a rural lodging in the village of Montisi, one of the five towns of Val d’Orcia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Both in this small village of 300 inhabitants and in the surrounding area, you find yourself in one of the most beautiful regions of Italy: Tuscany. A peaceful and quiet territory where every cypress tree is a symbol of hospitality.
The owners of the Umberto 121 are a clear example of the centuries-old hospitality of the cypresses, and they have achieved it thanks to the renovation of an original 14th century building with the wisdom to preserve the authenticity that the passage of time has impregnated in the spaces. They have preserved the 17th century frescoes and the terrazzo from the 1930’s and have eliminated those parts that were not original in order to leave the most authentic element visible in each room.
The five double rooms and the rest of the house have been meticulously renovated and decorated with delicacy and good taste. Both in the living room and in the bedrooms, the visitor feels at home, surrounded by a cozy atmosphere and light. The house has a total of 350 square meters and includes a garden area from which one can see the medieval village of Montisi.
The house has been decorated with furniture and lighting acquired in local markets and antique shops combined with contemporary furniture designs by Italian and Spanish creators. Not surprisingly, the owners are an Italian-Spanish couple. Good taste, sobriety and simplicity have colonized the spaces to respect the essence of a house with more than 600 years of history.
On the house’s first floor, the house features a living room with two sofas (one of them, an Italian design from the 60’s) that accompany Tria Shelving System bookshelf. On this floor there is also a dining room and a kitchen available to guests.
On the second floor are the five double bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. Some of the bathrooms have preserved the terrazzo of the 30’s, but have been completely renovated to provide the elements of modern comfort. Each room has preserved its own little history.
We also find a foyer between the rooms that has become a pleasant area where you can read, rest or contemplate every detail of the house.
What is your perception on the evolution of Mobles 114 from its creation to the present?
Very consistent. Both in their own designs and in those of others. Everything that carries the brand Mobles 114 is authentic design; sensible, useful and friendly pieces, without shrillness in shapes or colors.
What are the features that turn a product into an iconic design?
The fact that a product becomes an icon, a classic, does not only depend on a good design, nor on the fact that the company that produces it has promoted it appropriately, nor on the fact that influencers and mass media have widely supported it.
Even if all that certainly helps, it is people as users who really elevate a product to such an iconic status.
A design becomes a classic through the conjunction of thousands of people who, satisfied with the features offered by this design, are loyal to it, use it and make the product transcend the barrier of time and fashions. Thus, the design becomes an icon.
