GANDIABLASCO is the outdoor furniture brand of Gandia Blasco Group, founded in 1941 and manufacturing blankets. Since the year 2000, Gandia Blasco has focused its activities on the design of outdoor furniture with an architectural character, linked to its Mediterranean roots.
Currently, the brand GANDIABLASCO is recognized internationally for the quality of its designs, the passion for life in the outdoors, and the collaborations with architects and first-rate designers all over the world.
BUIT, empty in Valencian, is the new Mayice Studio outdoor collection for GANDIABLASCO.
Founded in 2014 by the architects Marta Alonso Yebra and Imanol Calderón Elósegui, Mayice Studio works from its headquarters in Madrid, with projects of interior designs, architecture and product design with significant respect for materials, its history and functionality, all the way from the first sketch to the final result. Their high doses of talent and creative ingenuity find in the artisan work the best of allies to give their spaces and products they design their personality.
The Madrid multidisciplinary studio was inspired by the history and values of the brand to finally find an aesthetic and functional solution, both sculptural and pragmatic, that conveys the concern of its creators for experimentation with materials.
A shared interest with GANDIABLASCO and which has led them to carry out an in-depth study of resistance and ergonomics, pushing the properties of aluminum to the limit. Throughout this process, Mayice Studio was in direct contact with the GANDIABLASCO team, both creatively and technically, obtaining the involvement, dedication, and commitment of both the property and the expert engineers and master craftsmen who work with care and aluminum precision from its workshops in Valencia.
The series proposes a modular system that is easily integrated into all kinds of spaces and, being ultralight and manageable, allows multiple configurations.
In addition, two pieces of BUIT give rise to different interpretations, since they can work with or without the textile. Regarding its finishes, BUIT allows different color options thanks to the thermo-lacquered structure, always in harmony with the light gray tone of the Kvadrat Febrik fabric.
BUIT starts from an aluminium mesh curved to form a sinuous armchair and a pouf/side table. The hardness and low temperature of aluminum contrast with the warmth and comfort of the textile component, for which Mayice Studio and GANDIABLASCO carried out extensive R&D work in collaboration with Kvadrat Febrik. The Danish company, strongly rooted in the Scandinavian design tradition and pioneer in the design of innovative textiles, developed a technical outdoor fabric for braiding, in addition to providing great resistance and quality, reminiscent of wool and giving that warm touch that, sometimes we miss in outdoor furniture. The laces, which are interwoven with the aluminum mesh without requiring extra trims, have a quick-drying foam inside that helps drain water easily.
Durability overtime was a determining issue from the first sketches, which is why BUIT promises a long life both for the characteristics and good aging of its materials and for its clean and elegant shapes.
Since its debut at the Rossana Orlandi art space in Milan, BUIT has continued to achieve success, acquiring such prestigious recognitions in the sector as the Archiproducts and NCYxDESIGN international design awards for best outdoor seating.
The collection manages to synthesize the company’s long history of textile innovation and outdoor furniture design in a concept that blends the past and absolute respect for tradition with vanguard in the choice and use of materials.
Zoe Miles