Marti Guixé was born in Barcelona in 1964. He lives and works between Barcelona and Berlin and has collaborated for firms such as Camper, Chupa-Chups, Desigual, Droog Design, Saporiti, Watx. He has exhibited at the MOMA in New York, the Design Museum in London, The MACBA in Barcelona, the MUDAC in Lausanne and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. He has produced numerous books with the italian publishing house Corraini

Barcelona had its primavera of design; I remember when I was studying in Milan, everybody was speaking about Barcelona.

What is your relationship with Barcelona?

I was born and raised in Barcelona but now I live between here and Berlin and tend to travel a lot. When I am in Barcelona, I spend a lot of time in my studio. But generally speaking, I work much more in Italy and other countries than in Spain. Barcelona had its primavera of design; I remember when I was studying in Milan, everybody was speaking about Barcelona. That is not the case any more and I don’t have the opportunity to exhibit regularly here. I have to go to Milan to present my work because it’s always the place to be. I receive a lot of commissions from Italy but only very occasionally from Barcelona and Spain.

For designers I am an artist and for artists I am a designer

You seem to be at a cross point between art and design, as a designer exhibiting also in art spaces and museums

My position is not easy because I am not an artist, my methods are very different. I design to sell my products, an artist expresses him or herself but not for commercial purposes. Although this is not always the case, in theory that’s the main difference. My work is always developed in a commercial context, even when I do very experimental things, I try to develop a business model with the intention of changing something in society but also of an eventual financial gain. There is always this drive to search new economic areas to produce new products. An artist searches for new ways to develop his thoughts, not necessarily in an economical context.