Miguel Milá represents like no other person Spanish contemporary design. He belongs to the pioneer’s generation of the 50s, and has seen how many of his pieces of furniture and lamps have become real classics.
Miguel Milá started working as an interior designer in the architecture studio of his brother Alfonso Milá and partner Federico Correa. It was the end of the 50s, a time of crisis when Spain hardly knew what industrial design was. There was practically no industry, everything was generally handmade. This framework marked the way Miguel Milá understood design, sensitive to the appreciation and use of traditional techniques.
Despite the shortage of objects, means and raw materials of the time, Miguel Milá started designing lamps and furniture, that he soon manufactured in his own company, Tramo, a company he set up with two friends: architects F. Ribas Barangé and E. Pérez Ullibari.
Many works came out of Tramo, abbreviation for “trabajos molestos” (annoying works), including the previous versions of the famous TMC and TMM lamps (1958 and 1961), timeless classic designs that are still being sold today. Subsequently, he set up his own industrial and interior design studio.
Miguel Milá participated in the foundation of the ADI-FAD, together with Antoni de Moragas, André Ricard, Oriol Bohigas, Cirici Pellicer, Manel Cases and Rafael Marquina. This association sought to foster Spanish design abroad, and to make a connection between young Spanish professionals and international design.
Miguel Milá has come to be a classic figure in design. In fact, he almost represents the history of Catalan modern design. His work has focused on bringing tradition up to date: many of his products have overcome the circumstances under which they were made, and are still selling nowadays, “thanks to having been born at a time when rigor and honesty were high values”, states Milá. In 1987, he was awarded with the Premio Nacional de Diseño and in 2008 reward the Compasso d’Oro in recognition of his career history and his contribution to the promotion of Spanish design.
