Miguel Mila' Floor Lamp: A Timeless Spanish Modernist Classic

Ceiling lamp designed by Miguel Milà. By unknown manufacturer, circa 1970. In good original condition, preserving a beautiful patina, with minor wear c...

Aplique lamp designed by Miguel Mila´. Manufactured by Tramo (Spain), circa 1960. Wood structure and plastic lampshade. In good original condition, with minor wear consistent with age and use, preserving a beautiful patina. Miguel Mila´represents like no other person Spanish contemporary design. He belongs to the Pioneer's generation of the 1950s and has seen how many of his pieces of furniture and lamps have become real classics. Miguel Mila´was born in a Catalan aristocratic family with strong links with the artistic world (his ancestors assigned the Mila´House, also known as La Pedrera, to Gaudi´) and started working as an interior designer in the architecture studio of his brother Alfonso Mila´and Federico Correa. It was the end of the 1950s, a time of crisis when Spain hardly knew what Industrial Design was. There was practically no industry, everything was generally handmade. This framework marked the way Miguel Mila´ understood design, being sensitive to the pleasure of touching and closer to traditional techniques. Despite the shortage of objects, means and raw materials of the time, Miguel Mila´started designing lamps and furniture, that he soon manufactured in his own company, Tramo. Miguel Mila´set up this company with two friends, architects F. Ribas Barange´ and E. Pe´rez Ullibari. This is how Miguel Mila´got involved with Industrial Design. Out of Tramo, apocopation of Trabajos molestos (annoying works, that is, all the things little brothers have to do), many projects came out. For instance, he developed the previous versions of the famous TMC and TMM lamps (1958 and 1961), timeless Classic designs that are still selling nowadays. Some time after, he set up his own Industrial and interior design studio. Miguel Mila´participated with the designers and architects of that period in the first meetings in Barcelona to discuss on modernity in architecture, out of which came the question of how to promote design and implant its professional practice. These meetings culminated in the foundation of the ADI-FAD, together with Antoni de Moragas, Andre´ Ricard, Bohigas, Cirici Pellicer, Manel Cases and Rafael Marquina. From its beginnings, this association sought to foster Spanish design abroad, and to make a connection between young Spanish professionals and international design. "I am in reality a pre-Industrial designer- has Mila´stated. I feel more comfortable with the technical procedures that allow correcting failures, experimenting during the process, and controlling it to the maximum. That is where my preference for noble materials comes from, the preference for materials that know how to age." This is the case, among others, of the wooden Cesta lamps...

Wally aplique lamp designed by Miguel Mila. Manufactured by Tramo (Spain), circa 1962. Metal structure and plastic shade. In good original condition, with minor wear consistent with age and use, preserving a beautiful patina. Miguel Milá represents like no other person Spanish contemporary design. He belongs to the Pioneer's generation of the 1950s and has seen how many of his pieces of furniture and lamps have become real classics. Miguel Milá was born in a Catalan aristocratic family with strong links with the artistic world (his ancestors assigned the Milá House, also known as La Pedrera, to Gaudí) and started working as an interior designer in the architecture studio of his brother Alfonso Milá and Federico Correa. It was the end of the 1950s, a time of crisis when Spain hardly knew what Industrial Design was. There was practically no industry, everything was generally handmade. This framework marked the way Miguel Milá understood design, being sensitive to the pleasure of touching and closer to traditional techniques. Despite the shortage of objects, means and raw materials of the time, Miguel Milá started designing lamps and furniture, that he soon manufactured in his own company, Tramo. Miguel Milá set up this company with two friends, architects F. Ribas Barangé and E. Pérez Ullibari. This is how Miguel Milá got involved with Industrial Design. Out of Tramo, apocopation of Trabajos molestos (annoying works, that is, all the things little brothers have to do), many projects came out. For instance, he developed the previous versions of the famous TMC and TMM lamps (1958 and 1961), timeless Classic designs that are still selling nowadays. Sometime after, he set up his own Industrial and interior design studio. Miguel Milá participated with the designers and architects of that period in the first meetings in Barcelona to discuss on modernity in architecture, out of which came the question of how to promote design and implant its professional practice. These meetings culminated in the foundation of the ADI-FAD, together with Antoni de Moragas, André Ricard, Bohigas, Cirici Pellicer, Manel Cases and Rafael Marquina. From its beginnings, this association sought to foster Spanish design abroad, and to make a connection between young Spanish professionals and international design. "I am in reality a pre-Industrial designer- has Milá stated. I feel more comfortable with the technical procedures that allow correcting failures, experimenting during the process, and controlling it to the maximum. That is where my preference for noble materials comes from, the preference for materials that know how to age." This is the case, among others, of the wooden Cesta lamps...

Big Wally aplique lamp designed by Miguel Mila. Manufactured by Tramo (Spain), circa 1962. Metal structure and plastic shade. In good original condition, with minor wear consistent with age and use, preserving a beautiful patina. Miguel Milá represents like no other person Spanish contemporary design. He belongs to the Pioneer's generation of the 1950s and has seen how many of his pieces of furniture and lamps have become real classics. Miguel Milá was born in a Catalan aristocratic family with strong links with the artistic world (his ancestors assigned the Milá House, also known as La Pedrera, to Gaudí) and started working as an interior designer in the architecture studio of his brother Alfonso Milá and Federico Correa. It was the end of the 1950s, a time of crisis when Spain hardly knew what Industrial Design was. There was practically no industry, everything was generally handmade. This framework marked the way Miguel Milá understood design, being sensitive to the pleasure of touching and closer to traditional techniques. Despite the shortage of objects, means and raw materials of the time, Miguel Milá started designing lamps and furniture, that he soon manufactured in his own company, Tramo. Miguel Milá set up this company with two friends, architects F. Ribas Barangé and E. Pérez Ullibari. This is how Miguel Milá got involved with Industrial Design. Out of Tramo, apocopation of Trabajos molestos (annoying works, that is, all the things little brothers have to do), many projects came out. For instance, he developed the previous versions of the famous TMC and TMM lamps (1958 and 1961), timeless Classic designs that are still selling nowadays. Some time after, he set up his own Industrial and interior design tudio. Miguel Milá participated with the designers and architects of that period in the first meetings in Barcelona to discuss on modernity in architecture, out of which came the question of how to promote design and implant its professional practice. These meetings culminated in the foundation of the ADI-FAD, together with Antoni de Moragas, André Ricard, Bohigas, Cirici Pellicer, Manel Cases and Rafael Marquina. From its beginnings, this association sought to foster Spanish design abroad and to make a connection between young Spanish professionals and international design. "I am in reality a pre-Industrial designer- has Milá stated. I feel more comfortable with the technical procedures that allow correcting failures, experimenting during the process, and controlling it to the maximum. That is where my preference for noble materials comes from, the preference for materials that know how to age." This is the case, among others, of the wooden Cesta lamps...

TMM floor lamp designed in 1962 by Miguel Milá for Tramo, Spain. Old edition in ebonized oak wood and original signed shade.

The classics never go out of style. To mark the iconic design’s 50th anniversary, Santa & Cole released in 2011 “the last and definitive edition” of the TMC lamp...

An archetype of industrial craftsmanship. Inspired by the traditional lanterns that light up homes along the coast, rural estates and open terraces, Cestita is the little sister of o...

The Americana series was designed by Miguel Milá in the mid-1960s to pay tribute to George Hansen’s 1950s lamp collection. The Hansen lamps are built around a rotating arm with a swi...