A conversation with Martin Azúa

Martin Azúa is a Spanish artist and designer born in the Basque Country. He works between Barcelona and La Isla de Pico Azores. He had many solo and group exhibitions and his work forms part of major collections and museums such as the MOMA of New York of the Design Museum of Barcelona, among others. Parallel to his more personal work he has designed products and spaces for large companies and institutions.

Barcelona is full of designers, especially graphic designers

Space and communication are considered carefully, offering interesting opportunities for designers. Industrial design reflects the situation of local industry; there are no high-tech industries in particular but very good opportunities to develop products in the furniture and lighting field. There are a lot of design schools and activities centered around design in Barcelona.

Plain in its form and in its foundation, Barcelona doesn’t like excess
and tends towards a certain stillness. Madrid in contrast, is more demonstrative and glitzy. For me, the fashion designer Toni Mirò represents the Catalan style very well, in particular in his choice of material which is so important; he uses very beautiful fabrics, plain and not too colorful but in a modern and deconstructed style.

In Spain there is little space for experimental design and very few galleries in which to display.

I belong to a generation of designers who intend design to be a form of research. I do work for companies but I am also involved in work where I do experiments and organise exhibitions. In Spain there is little space for experimental design and very few galleries in which to display. There is a young collective of designers in Barcelona called Surtido who organize a lot of activities; that might be the beginning of a change.

New tools for the spanish cuisine 

Chefs and designers collaborate tightly to provide new formats and tools for the new spanish cuisine.
Cuisine has never been discussed so much or so passionately in Spain. Spanish designers have collaborated in this phenomenon, designing products and spaces and in this way generating a new image of the country’s cuisine. This new cuisine needs tools to express itself and present its revelations.