In 1980 the Spanish graphic designer Javier Mariscal created an unconventional bar stool for the interior of the Dúplex Bar in Valencia, which he was working on with designer Fernando Salas. The model had three tubular steel legs in different colours, each shaped differently, and with all three connected by two stabilizing tubular steel rings, the lower of which also functions as a footrest. The round, upholstered seat was available in either black or blue with a white vinyl rim. Only ten to twelve copies of this stool were handmade specifically for the bar. In 1981 Mariscal started reworking his design for serial production at BD Ediciones de Diseño. Although the seat was now only available in black, he developed an additional lower version called Single. This unusual stool seems literally skewed, as if taken straight from the pages of a cartoon, thus pointing to Mariscal’s original profession as a cartoonist. It reflects the vitality and optimistic awakening of new Spanish design after the fall of Franco regime, which had been an era of cultural paralysis.
Text: Volker Albus
