Estudi Blanc, for Metalarte.

ESTUDI BLANC (Joan Antoni Blanc i Pau Joan Vidal) for Metalarte.
Floor lamp "L'Escala", 1982.
Aluminium.
Selected for the Delta ADI/FAD awards in 1984.
Difficult to find in this finish.
Condition: 9/10.
Measurements: 185 cm (height).

Halogen floor lamp designed by Estudi Blanc and produced by Metalarte in 1982. Its creators, Joan Antoni Blanc and Pau Joan Vidal, conceived its forms as a nod to the architecture of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Its structure of thin iron profiles forms a staircase (as the name suggests), in which the distance of the "steps" degrades as they approach the light source, reinforcing the visual effect of lightness. Base and screen have the same shape, like an open book, between two folded iron sheets. On the lampshade, small tabs allow the indirect light source to be rotated, projecting it towards the wall or ceiling.

"L'Escala" was selected for the 1984 Delta ADI/FAD awards and was a commercial success.

Joan Antoni Blanc was one of the founders of the Eina school and one of the main advocates of the need to incorporate technological knowledge and to orient design in industrial applications. He specialized in the field of design, specializing in furniture and lighting applied to the domestic, urban and office environment, although he has also developed several designs related to nautical, motoring and motorcycling. In 1972 he created "Estudi de Disseny Blanc", incorporating as assistant Pau Joan Vidal, an industrial designer trained at the Massana and Elisava schools, who later became his partner. He was also president of the Association of Professional Designers between 1986 and 1989 and participated in the creation of BCD. Among the products developed by Blanc, the "Cónica" lamp (Delta de Oro ADI-FAD in 1965), the "Cubiform" system of cabinets and drawers, the "semi-spherical" lamp (Delta de Oro ADI-FAD in 1966), the "Torre de Babel" set of expandable elements, the "globe" lamp (Delta de Oro ADI-FAD in 1966), and the "Torre de Babel" set of expandable elements (Delta de Oro ADI-FAD in 1966), the "Globe" lamp (Delta de plata ADI-FAD in 1968), the "Perfils" shelving and container system, the "Sinclina" lamp (Delta de plata ADI-FAD and prize for the best Spanish design at the Madrid fair in 1991), the "Prima 1000" shelving system and the "Escala" lamp. The Barcelona Design Museum is the repository of part of its documentary collections and three pieces designed by Joan Antoni Blanc: the "Cubiform" cabinet and the "Escala" and "Sinclina" floor lamps.