The designer Carles Riart has donated his professional archive

The designer Carles Riart (Barcelona, 1944) has given his professional archive to the Museu del Disseny’s Documentation Center. The material donated comprises more than 3,000 documents, including sketches, drawings, plans, photographs, correspondence, texts (reports, technical documentation on products and materials, etc.), administrative documents (estimates, invoices, etc.), books, catalogues and magazines. All this, related to the countless designs and projects on which Riart worked from 1974 to 2014.

Carles Riart, who received the National Design Award in 2011, has been one of the most outstanding professionals in our country during the second half of the twentieth century. His work as a furniture and interior designer blends craft and industry. His knowledge of and admiration for carpentry and the arts and crafts and his training in design are key to understanding his professional trajectory and the wide range of products and projects that he engaged with. Furniture like the "Arcada", the "Carles Riart Chair" rocker and the "Ona" coat hanger, created in collaboration with Montse Padrós, feature in the permanent exhibition "From the World to the Museum" at the Museu del Disseny, and illustrate the unique formal and conceptual quality of Riart’s designs.

Other notable achievements include Riart’s "Muebles especiales", "Útils" and "Objectes perduts" collections, which mix art and design, his interior decoration of an apartment in Gaudí’s La Pedrera and his participation in such projects as the Fonda Europa in Granollers, the Piano Modas shop, the Snooker Club and the Olympic cauldron lighting ceremony at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, in which the flame was lit by an arrow fired by an archer.

The documentation donated by Carles Riart gives us insight into the creative processes behind these and other products and projects and provides a basic resource to enable and promote research into this creative artist by all those who are interested in design.