Galfia Gears up for Valencia World Design Capital® 2022
We work with some pretty amazing design and manufacturing brands, here at Riluxa. Yet the one that consistently wows us again and again is the Valencia (Spain) based manufacturer, Galfia, with whom we have forged an exclusive partnership. Now, in light of Valencia being named World Design Capital® 2022 (WDC), it looks like Galfia is getting set to deliver even more examples of high-end interior design.
In the past two years alone, a number of luxury bathroom products by Galfia (of which we are proud to be the sole retailer) have been nominated for Archiproducts Design Awards and featured in the likes of French Marie Claire and the UK’s Grand Designs magazine, amongst others. Yet these early achievements for the fledgling brand are but the tip of the iceberg, says the brand’s PR and Marketing consultant Nick Mitchell:
“The World Design Capital® award is only given every two years, each time to a city that demonstrates effective use of design to drive economic, social, cultural and environmental development. This confirms that Galfia is already part of a wave of Valencian businesses contributing to quality of life across the globe. Having spoken to the brand’s Design team, however, I can assure you that there’s much more to come – new products, new materials and new manufacturing processes.”
Meeting the sustainable design challenge
Through a year-long programme of events, Valencia World Design Capital® 2022 will showcase best practices in sustainable, design-led urban innovations that improve quality of life. Galfia is currently engaged in investigating approaches that will not only meet the qualitative lifestyle demands of bathroom users more and more effectively, but also the more pressing demands of the global environment.
“This event is like a challenge to Galfia,” says Mitchell. “The team over there is already knee-deep in investigating ideas such as how to provide water pressure without wasting water; how to conserve energy during manufacturing; how to deliver luxurious products that are both drawn from the earth and proven to last longer so that they need to be replaced less frequently. But the WDC award is a clarion call to do even more; to go even further.”
But what does “further” look like? The company already works with materials like solid surface, Corian® and Silestone®, both of which are designed not simply with the aesthetic luxury of timelessness in mind, but also the luxury of durability. In designing for a more environmentally friendly life, will Galfia products lose some of their luxurious edge that have helped them to become some of the world’s best examples of high-end bathroom design?
“Absolutely not,” asserts Mitchell, firmly and without pause. “Let’s take a look at the history of design in general. What we see within it is a prolonged attempt to live smarter and more functionally. Two centuries have passed since the decorative arts were at the very centre of what constitutes a luxurious piece of product design. And you only need to go back to Mid-Century Modernism to see that the height of design excellence after World War II has been about redefining aesthetic beauty in terms of simplistic composition of raw materials. As far as product design goes, Minimalism is by far the best route to environmentalism.”
The special nature of Valencian design
Valencia, however, may not be a city historically known for its minimalistic approach to design excellence.
Walk around the old part of the city and you will find the decorative Mercat Central, built between 1914 and 1928 in a blend of Valencian Art Nouveau and Valencian Gothic styles with elaborately tiled walls and domed roofing. At the head of the city centre, you will find another Valencian Art Nouveau masterpiece, the elaborately decorated Estació del Nord (North Station) with its façade of carved oranges, floral stained glass and towering phoenix, rising over a central clock that overlooks the city.
If Galfia is reflective of a minimalistic design approach that encapsulates the Valencian outlook, how does this marry with the far more elaborate historic landscape of the city istelf?
“What it tells us,” Mitchell says, “is that Valencia has always been at the forefront of design innovations and that it has no intention of slowing down. Buildings like those you mention, of course, nestle comfortably alongside the Catalan Modernist masterpiece that is the Prince Felipe Science Museum and Opera House, designed by architect Santiago Calatrava; and alongside the CEOE Foundation National Prize winning MuVIM building, an incredible example of Spanish contemporary Minimalism. I would say that Galfia is simply a part Valencia’s enduring and relentless drive toward design excellence.”
Designs for life
It’s a drive that has certainly been recognised by the World Design Organization® President and member of the WDC 2022 Selection Committee, Luisa Bocchietto, who says, “Valencia’s bid articulated a compelling proposal that clearly demonstrates the effective application of Mediterranean design, of design for change and design as a key reference point to improve citizens’ quality of life.”
As coronavirus-related restrictions on movement are lifted in the city and tourism tentatively resumes, it is with a great deal of excitement that the city prepares for what will be a serious boon to its industrial design leaders, of which Galfia is most certainly a great example.