Miguel Milá

When Miguel Milá began designing lighting and furniture and founded his own design studio with friends, the name he gave the studio was “Tramo. ” A portmanteau of “trabajos molestos, ” or “annoying works, ” the term indicates the kind of jobs one gives to a little brother, a sly reference to his employment as an interior designer at his older brother’s architecture firm.
This, in a nutshell, exemplifies the humour and humanity of Miguel Milá.
There is a playfulness to both Milá and his work, but the grounded, earnest playfulness of a craftsman who values work and practicality—but always has a twinkle in his eye.
Usefulness is a natural and necessary element in Milá’s designs, as his inspiration is simply the desire to solve problems—often small, almost insignificant, problems—that most might not even acknowledge as problems in need of a solution.
That solution is, according to Milá, what makes a design beautiful. Adornment is unnecessary so long as the design fulfills a need or desire. This inherent commitment to finding the essence of the object and its purpose is why his multiple-award-winning designs are so defined by their timelessness.
For example, the Asa table lamp, which, in 1961, was the first of Miguel Milá’s lamps to be released by Tramo, is still available—with some minor revisions—from Santa & Cole today. Likewise the TMC, TMD, TMM, and the M68: simple, functional, names for subtle, yet evocative designs that defined Spanish design for a generation, and which have all endured for over fifty years.