A Heartfelt Homage to a Catalan Design Legend

When the Catalan industrial designer Miguel Milá passed away in 2024 at the age of 93, the outpouring of respect and affection from the Spanish design community was tangible. Even for those who hadn’t lived through the country’s transition from dictatorship to democracy, his pioneering designs are seen as icons of the post-Franco domestic landscape. Milá’s most widely known legacy is a pair of lamps: the TMC/TMM standing lamp, which was released in various versions throughout his career, and the Cesta, a Japanese-inspired floor or table lamp that pre-empted the trend for hand-carried lamps that can be moved around the home.

At Barcelona’s Design Museum, Miguel Milá. (Pre) industrial designer reveals that his oeuvre was much wider. The exhibition has been curated by Gonzalo Milá—Miguel’s son and co-author of many of his father’s later collections—and Claudia Olivia, a respected cultural manager and Gonzalo’s partner. Cozy familiarity is a running narrative in the exhibition. Miguel’s first interior projects were carried out for his brother, the modernist architect Alfonso Milá, and most of his designs were prototyped, by hand, in the family shed before being produced in local workshops. Some pieces were even named after the artisan who made them. 

For Milá, the home provided an empty canvas for thoughtful consideration and connection. “My father always said he tried to improve the lives of people who used his designs,” Gonzalo says. “He wanted to simplify their lives, but also beautify and be present in them.” This philosophy led a to a variety of quietly elegant designs ubiquitous to Spanish homes still today, from a fly swatter to side tables, chairs and bookstands. In Spanish streets too, the designer left his signature love of simplicity and comfort in the form of NeoRomantico, an ergonomic chair or bench in natural wood and cast aluminum that enhances the act of communal gathering and everyday conversation. 

How This Cozy Design Exhibition Pays Tribute To Miguel Milá