Lagranja Design

Gerard Sanmartí is an interior designer that studied at the Elisava Design and Engineering School in Barcelona, and Gabriele Schiavon is an architect who graduated from the IUAV University in Venice. Gerard and Gabriele met at Oliviero Toscani’s Benetton Factory in Italy, where they forged their friendship. They decided to embark on their own business project focused on interior design, graphic design and industrial design. In 2002, they founded the Lagranja Design studio, based in Barcelona, and with offices in Istanbul (2013), Singapore (2018) and now in Hong Kong.

Lagranja Design is known for its multidisciplinary work in interior and product design which is always true to its philosophy, without following trends. At the Lagranja Design studio, Gerard Sanmartí and Gabriele Schiavon offer companies and brands support in developing their projects.

Faithful to their own ideas and strategies, the co-founders assert: “We believe each project is unique and must be approached in a different way. We try to understand the context, we ask lots of questions, to ourselves and our clients, we trace out strategies, search for the right tools, as well as the right team. And we allow things to take shape”.

In this manner, they seek functional and practical pieces that meet the client’s needs. Together, under their motto of “specialising in not specialising”, they have worked on furniture, product, colour and space projects, all of which are both simple and eccentric and convey the passion of their creators.

Their best known projects in the hospitality industry include the Chic & Basic in Barcelona, The Populist in Istanbul, the Paragon Watch Galleria in Tianjin, China, and the Pur-Impur, Nandu Jubany’s latest restaurant, in Barcelona.

Gerard Sanmartí and Garbiele Schiavon’s talent at Lagranja Design has been recognised with a number of different national and international awards, such as the Red Dot Award (2007), Barcelona City Design Award (2008), IDEA Award (2008), Via Award (2009), IIDA Excellence Award from the International Interior Design Association-USA (2009) and the ADI-FAD Silver Delta Award (2012).

Since 2002, Gerard Sanmartí has combined his professional career as an interior designer with teaching at the Elisava and IED design schools, as well as running international workshops. From 2001 to 2011, Gabriele Schiavon has intermittently combined his design work with teaching at Art and Design universities like IUAV, IED in Barcelona and the EINA School of Design.

They are the creators of the Key bicycle rack (2007), winner of the Red Dot Award (2007) and Barcelona City Design Award (2008). Central to this piece are its affable lines and intention to humanise the city through an element that is both pleasing to the touch and bike-frame friendly.