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David Abad
“I’m more inspired by art than design, and I am trying to bring art into the mix with my designs as much as possible.”
David Abad credits his unique design sensibilities to growing up in Barcelona, where the Mediterranean light falling over the city’s eclectic architectural styles developed his aesthetic appreciation, while working in his family’s machine factory led him to value precision and industry. It is between these elements, art and engineering, that one finds the vital tension of Abad’s designs.
From his popular Phi, Marc, and Anvil designs, to his 2007 Red-Dot-winning Dear Edi S, to even the intensely-organic HLF, each of Abad’s works carries its own sense of what might best be termed industrial elegance.
After earning a degree in engineering, David Abad was working in his family’s business when he chose to open his own company, Diseño Actual Barcelona, in 1997. Quickly gaining a reputation for creating ingenious bespoke lighting designs according to his clients’ needs, Abad nonetheless found that such individuated attention came with a price: he lacked the time to develop his own creations.
Thus, in 2012, he founded David Abad Design, and began a collaboration with B.lux, becoming their Creative Director. He remained in this position until leaving in 2015, again seeking to devote himself more fully to his own creations.
Most recently, in December 2019, Abad designed an installation for the Barcelona Edition hotel. One of his bespoke creations, it is a Christmas tree decorated with blown-glass teardrop shades melting over bands of brushed metal, each containing an LED-tipped candle. The interplay of the drooping glass, precisely-machined metal, and the organic tree they surround brilliantly creates harmony out of tension, forming a work both thoughtful and beautiful—exactly what one expects from David Abad.
Lights Designed by David Abad
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