“Paisajes de la memoria (Landscape of the memory)” by Josep Cerdá is a collection of furniture designed for Barcelona’s handmade and custom furniture design company, Ici et La. The Sculptural tabletops on sideboards, coffee tables and dining tables feature maps of imaginary cities crafted of resin and cement. The pieces remind me of the opening sequence of HBO’s Game of Thrones.
Barcelona-based sculptor Josep Cerdá created the dimensionalized table tops with ecological resin (artificial stone colored with natural pigments) and /or cement that represent the maps of imaginary cities when inspired by a dream about the novel Invisible Cities
The pieces in the collection that have been produced for Ici et La to sell include a sideboard, various coffee tables, and a dining table – are all custom and handmade and are available in other sizes with other possible colors for the tabletops.
PAISAJES DE LA MEMORIA – King Tut Sideboard
Material: stainless steel
Interior doors: painted wood
Tabletop: cement / resin + natural pigments
Handmade in a limited series of 8 in Barcelona
Available in others sizes and colours –
Dimensions: 150 x 55 x 70 cm. Made to measure.
CONNECT “PAISAJE DE LA MEMORIA” is a square dining table complete with steel and leather chairs
Table: Black steel – varnish – ecologic resin + natural pigments.
Chairs: Black steel – varnish – upholstered in leather (aged leather or colour leather) – 2 industrial wheels hidden in front of every chair facilitate the movement.
Dimensions (model in photo): 140 x 140 – h: 75 cm.
Made to measure: can seat 4, 6, 8 or 10
Available in stainless steel- choice of the plateau/tabletop: cement-resin – made to measure
PAISAJES DE LA MEMORIA II -(INDOOR VERSION) handmade coffee table made of iron or black steel with lacquered resin tabletop
Material: structure of black patina iron or black steel
Tabletop: ecological resin with natural pigments.
Hand made by the artist in limited series of 8 in Barcelona.
Dimensions (model in photo): 140 x 70 x 40 cm
Available in others colours /dimensions – Possibility of custom design
PAISAJES DE LA MEMORIA III (OUTDOOR VERSION) – handmade coffee table made of stainless steel with lacquered cement /resin tabletop
Materials: structure of polished stainless steel –
Table top: cement/resin
Dimensions (model in photo): 150 x 75 x 40 cm – a medida/sur-mesure/made to measure.
Options: available in others sizes – custom design top – indoor & outdoor
PAISAJES DE LA MEMORIA IV -(ONE-OFF PIECE) A handmade coffee table variant in varnished steel with cement/resin tabletop
Materials: cement/resin, feet: varnished steel
Dimensions (model in photo): 140 x 140 x 40 cm.
Options: custom made design
Other Pieces
When exhibited at the Galeria Aspectos, Cerda’s Paisajes de la Memoria Collection included end tables, console tables and rectangular dining tables as well.
About the artist (courtesy of the University of Barcelona)
Sculptor Josep Cerdá (J.Cerdá ) was the Professor of Sculpture at the University of Barcelona, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts between 2001 and 2004, Director of the Sculpture Department between 1995 and 1999, Director of the Department of Visual and Environmental Structure between 1988 and 1991, Director and Coordinator of the research group MESCA (Mestizaje Cultural y Artístico), from the UB’s Division of Human and Social Sciences.
As a sculptor, he has taken part in 15 individual and 26 collective exhibitions. His work has been exhibited in Tarragona (Contemporary Art Museum, AA Tarragona), Barcelona (Les Punxes Gallery, Aspectos Gallery, DAAZ), Girona (Rosa Pous Gallery, Introit Gallery in Vic), Andorra (Era Bauró Gallery, Riberaygua Gallery), Paris (Mostini Gallery) and Cologne (Paleo Mostini Gallery). He is the author of 10 public sculptures in Barcelona (Zona Franca, Plaça Molina, Port Vell), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Les Escaldes (Andorra) and Amman (Jordan). He is behind the sculptural installations 5.000 kg de gel en bòveda,FET al FAD and Festa Solidaritat. He has participated in art fairs, shows and events, such as New-Art, Mars Art Show in Paris, Eme3 Density CCCB, Primavera del Disseny in Barcelona, Casadecor and the Cologne Art Fair. He has worked on a number of designs, industrial prototypes and sculptures: the Travelling Museum for the Vila-Casas Foundation, numerous sculptures for La Pedrera, Barcelona’s BM Pre-Columbian Museum, Le Club du Telar in Paris and Collserola Park. His work figures among the permanent collections of museums and private collectors, sculptures in the Museum of Modern Art in Tarragona, the Felbinger Collection in Germany, Riberaygua Gallery in Andorra and Cat’art in France. His distinctions include first place at the Tarragona Biennial and the Visual Arts Scholarship from the Generalitat of Catalonia. He has worked as a scenographer on five occasions, most notably for Konic Tr at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, AIET on its American university tour and Mio Cid at the Sitges International Theatre Festival. He has organised and imparted courses and workshops in numerous contemporary art centres, most notably the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, in celebration of the Oteiza exhibit in 2005. He has taken part in the International Sculpture Symposium in Amman (Jordan). Since 2004, he has co-directed, along with architect Andrea Ortega, the Environmental Sculpture Workshop at the Technical Foundation of Catalonia (UPC), which has installed 8 sculptures in Los Molles (Chile). He has produced 32 sculptures for the Collserola Park, a project selected during the European Biennial of Landscape and exhibited at the Milan Triennial, and a route for the visually impaired in La Tossa de Montbui. In collaboration with Enric Ruiz-Geli / Cloud 9, he undertook the artistic research for the Thirst Pavilion’s dome at Expo Zaragoza 2008. He is currently involved in sound installations and sculptural interventions in nature, in creating the Soundscape of Catalonia, commissioned by the Caixa de Catalunya Foundation, and assembling the sound archive for the Generalitat of Catalonia’s Landscape Observatory.
images courtesy of Josep Cerda, Ici et LA, Archiexpo, Archiproducts