Enrique Franch

Enric (Enrique) Franch Miret (Barcelona, 1943 – 31 March 2024) was an influential Catalan industrial designer, exhibition designer and educator. In Metalarte catalogues and some international sources he is credited as “Enrique Franch”, but this is simply the Castilian version of his name – it refers to the same designer.

Franch trained at several Barcelona institutions, including the Escola de Pèrits Industrials, the Escola Massana, the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona and the Higher School of Social Sciences, and later completed further specialist studies abroad.

He began his professional activity in 1968 and soon became involved in the emerging Catalan design scene. He was a member of major design organisations such as ADP, ADI-FAD, BEDA and the Design Research Society, and served on the board of FAD from 1976 to 1979 under the presidency of architect Antoni de Moragas.

From the early 1970s he directed DPC (Disseny / Diseño i Produccions Culturals), a studio focused on integrated design, communication and cultural projects for both private industry and public institutions. Much of his career was devoted to exhibition design and museography: among many projects he worked on the heritage plan and visitor facilities for Cardona (Parc Cultural de la Muntanya de la Sal and Centre Cardona Medieval), the image and museological projects for the Museu Nacional de la Ciència i de la Tècnica de Catalunya in Terrassa, and several museum and exhibition programmes in Asturias, including the Museu del Poble d’Astúries and the masterplan for the region’s network of ethnographic museums.

Franch was also active as a curator, notably for the Primavera del Disseny cycles in 1995 and 1997 and the International Forum Barcelona Primavera del Disseny in 1997.

In parallel he developed an important teaching career, especially at ELISAVA, Escola Superior de Disseny de Barcelona (1985–2006), and he lectured widely in Spain and internationally.

He published numerous articles and essays on design, communication, exhibitions and museums, and was regarded by colleagues as both an intellectual and a practicing designer.

In product and lighting design, Franch is best remembered for his collaboration with Metalarte, where he worked as a freelance designer between 1969 and 1979.

His most iconic piece is the “Calder” halogen table lamp (1974/75), a sculptural counterbalanced desk lamp with a long oscillating arm and conical base. The Calder was Metalarte’s first halogen lamp and became the first Spanish design to enter the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, as well as being held by the Design Museum of Barcelona.

Through his combination of rigorous thinking, cultural engagement and formally innovative objects such as the Calder lamp, Enric (Enrique) Franch Miret left a lasting mark on Spanish and international design.

Metalarte

The Metalarte company was founded in 1932 in Cannoveles, some 30 km/19 mi from Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. In the 1960s and 1970s it renewed its catalogue and started working with external designers and companies. For instance, they sold lamps produced by Louis Poulsen from Denmark and Arteluce and Stilnovo from Italy. Today the company is part of the Luxonia group. Together with the Troll and Sagelux brands.

Designers that worked for Metalarte are, among others: André Ricard, Enric Franch, Josep Lluscà, Estudi Blanc, Josep Aregall, Oscar and Sergi Devesa, Antoni Arola, Lievore Altherr Molina, Ricard Ferrer, George W. Hansen, Héctor Serrano, Jordi Llopis, Ana Mir, Emili Padrós, Otto Canalda and Ramón Úbeda.

Acrylic: often named by its commercial name: Perspex, Plexiglas, Crylux, Acrylite, Lucite, is a (mostly) transparent thermoplastic.