MUT Design

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Photo by Salva Lopez

Alberto Sánchez and Eduardo Villalón's projects are deeply bound up with Mediterranean traditions. Their design exudes a feeling of calm and communality. With a healthy pinch of sensuality and irony.

Alberto Sánchez and Eduardo Villalón, professionally known as MUT Design, are fresh from Imm Cologne, where they showcased their specially-designed architectural living concept. Here, as in the projects they carry out for a large number of furnishing companies, their contemporary lifestyle project was an expression of their visionary Spanish, or rather, Valencian approach.

mutdesign.com

You presented your first furniture line at SaloneSatellite in 2010. The third time you took part, in 2012, Wallpaper magazine selected you as part of the feature The New Wave of Spanish Designers. A great responsibility. What was your reaction?

First of all, surprise. We didn't expect to be included in a list of representatives of the New Wave of Spanish Designers of this kind. It was, indeed, a huge responsibility but we have coped with it quite well. Almost a decade on, we are still here, working, growing and proud of our achievements thus far.

Do you still see yourselves as “representatives” of Spanish design? I mean, are roots important to you? How do you bring them into your projects?

Yes, roots are everything. The Mediterranean is our inspiration. Our city is our inspiration. We are always aware of where we come from, our origins, our history and culture. There is a little bit of all this, a little bit of us in each and every one of our projects.

You haven’t stopped since then. How has your design approach evolved over the years? What are you doing differently?

We are much wiser now. That is how we’ve evolved. We still work pretty much the same way, but maybe now we take things more seriously. We have also improved as designers. We have learned a lot of useful things interacting with our clients and with fellow designers. We have learned by going to trade fairs. We are much more conscious of where we stand and where we want to be in the future. But our essence, our identity, is just the same.

What are the projects that have given you the greatest satisfaction? Why?

We don't like to single out specific projects because they are all special to us. Right now we’ve been presented with a challenge, which we’ve managed to overcome successfully. We love everything we have done. Maybe, in hindsight, we might have done some things differently, but even the projects that were, let's say, less than perfect, have helped us get where we are. If we aren’t entirely satisfied with a product, it means we’ve still got work to do. We would never deliver a project to our clients that we aren’t intensely proud of.

Your pieces have a calm and lyrical feel, expressions of timeless design. What‘s your take on the craze for automation? Will every object have to have a purpose in the future?

All objects have a purpose, even if they are just decorative pieces. That does not mean they have to serve a particular function. Automation has its advantages, of course. It can help make certain things easier, but there’s no need to go nuts about it. Some things like art will remain the same and they will still fulfil a purpose: making our lives, our world more beautiful, providing inspiration, purely existing.

What projects are you currently working on?

Das Haus has kept us busy for months and months, from early this summer until recently, so basically all the products that we will be showcasing at the Salone have been generated by the Das Haus project. We think it’s great they are going to be exhibited again in Milan because they are the result of a huge effort and we are so proud of them.