Dossier 2008 © - Teclux

Future
His was the merit of being the first manufacturer to
produce a design by Philippe Starck. Metalarte has
always been ready to give breaks, and this is part
of its success. In the 1970’s following their
collective nose as ever, they banked on Enrich
Franch, and once more hit the jackpot. Franch’s
Calder (1974), which was Metalarte’s first halogen
lamp, also took the honour of becoming the first
Spanish design to be selected to form part of the
MoMA permanent collection in New York. It is still
there, in the museum and in commerce, a classic of
contemporary design. The company continued to
hire new designers.
Metalarte breezed through the happy 80s as the
prince of Spanish lighting companies. It was time
to venture into the outside world, and preparations
were made to disembark abroad when Román
Riera, son of Antonio and nephew of Carlos, joined
the firm in 1982. Román, who represents the third
generation of his family still remains at the helm of
Metalarte today, extended the sales network and
took on the export market.
Less fortunate was the case with Ross Lovegrove.
This Welsh designer, now internationally renowned,
was given an opportunity. Lovegrove worked with
Julian Brown, and in 1992 the pair jointly designed
a lamp, which went entirely unnoticed. Although
Lovegrove’s designs had still to reach full maturity,
that lamp was not so bad. A few years earlier it
would have sold well, but the economic situation
did not help.
After the Barcelona Olympic Games and the Seville
Expo in 1992, a national crisis set in, seriously
affecting the whole design industry. The market fell
flat. Metalarte suffered as much as anyone during
those difficult years. Only the strongest survived.
In 1997, Román Riera sought to escape the crisis
by injecting more creativity, hiring Carlos Riera as
the company’s Art Director.
With Carlos Riera at the helm of the family business
Metalarte went from strength to strength.
Riera built on his experience at Disform where
he also gained a great deal of notoriety with
established professionals from Lievore to Starck.
To this day Starck still likes to remind people that it
was Riera that gave him his first opportunity. As Art
Director, Carlos Riera is pivotal in the success of
each product ensuring every product is fully
developed prior to being launched.
In 2002, the great challenge came with the new
millennium, when the Feliu de la Peña (Troll) group
took out a majority shareholding, injecting new
resources that enabled the company to undertake
projects of broader scope. New offices were
opened, still in Sant Joan Despí, but with a
completely new look. Outside, the building is
painted in black whilst inside the spacious offices
and showroom are bathed in light. The new
facilities include a technical office that has been
converted into a research laboratory and the huge
warehouse, where lamps are assembled ready for
dispatch. The firm no longer manufactures in old
way, for Metalarte now is a modern company with
suppliers all over the world.
Carlos and Roman Riera are supported by all the
company’s departments and their partner, Feliu de
la Peña, who also knows the market like the back
of his hand. Without their support, the Metalab
collection would never have seen the light day.
Metalab was created to provide an outlet for more
daring projects, those that, at first glance, do not
seem suitable for conventional channels: a lamp
that floats on a swimming pool (Waterproof, Hector
Serrano, 2003); another enormous lamp that can be
used both outdoors and indoors (Inout, Otto
Canalda and Ramón Ubeda, 2003); a collection in
Pyrex (Liquid Lights, Fabrica, 2004), manufactured
without plans or mould; or a luxury lamp that give a
modern touch to the gilt and silver finishes we all
know and love (Josephine, Jaime Hayón, 2004).
Experiments that have later proven to be commerc i a l
successes. Products that close the same cycle that
has been repeated since the very beginning: what
seems surprising at first may later become a classic.
People at Metalarte know this better than anyone,
and that is why they will continue to produce lamps
to light the world, showing us clearly what we can
expect in the future .
In 2003 we went for a
s t r a t e g i c turn around and
a clear bet towards modern
and contemporary design.
F rom 2003 to 2005 Metalarte
was completely focused on
services: quality and delivery
time and the fact that we
a re most proud of is that
we have incorporated
38 new products into the
catalogue in the last 4 years.