Josep Torres Clavé
1994
Josep Torres Clavé
Biographies
Torres, Raimon
Raimon Torres Torres (1934-2013) son of the GATCPAC co-founder, Josep Torres Clavé, was an architect and urban designer who focused on projects inIbiza and Formentera. He graduated from the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB) in 1960, and, after working for a year in Paris, settled in Ibiza, where hebecame the municipal architect until 1976. He collaborated with Germán Rodríguez Arias, Erwin Broner, Josep Lluís Sert and Félix Julbe, among others. On his return to Barcelona he undertook several public projects, notably Can Tunis, won the 1980 FAD Opinion Award, and took over as chair of ETSAB projects until 1994, where he worked until 2005.
Josep Torres Clavé (1906-1939) first began designing furniture and objects for his family circle. It was an interest he would later develop more systematically within the scope of the GATCPAC (Group of Catalan Architects and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture), which he founded and was largely responsible for promoting. He also played a fundamental role in the two main outlets for spreading the group’s ideology: the AC journal, and the MIDVA shop, which he opened with Josep Lluís Sert and Antonio Bonet Castellana.
This monographic study is the first systematic approach to the work of this Catalan architect and designer. Written by his son Raimon, it is a convergence of materials and experiences, which contribute to the knowledge, analysis and understanding of his designs. It also examines his leading role in the diffusion of the Spanish avant-garde movements of the 1930s, a devotion that later led to ostracism and oblivion during the Franco regime. Torres Clavé thus emerges as a key figure in the introduction of contemporary architecture and design in Spain and as a creator of pieces that became emblems of “modern furniture.”
ISBN: 84-85424-31-4
raimon-torres – 1994
Spanish / English
Hardcover, 28.6 x 24 cm / 11.154″ x 9.36″
264 pp