The first Dali Design collection has been commissioned from the architect and designer, Oscar Tusquets, internationally well-known, who was made a patron member of the Gala-Dalí Foundation by Dalí himself, in addition to having been a student and personal friend of the Master.
O. Tusquets explains the project:
"From the beginning we saw that the real idea of the project was based more on taking inspiration from the complete works of Salvador Dalí than on a few motifs which could be printed, drawn from the paintings, a road which seemed to us to be very likely to lead to ‘kitsch’. Then, it seemed to us very much more ambitious to draw from all the work a few elements which would have a relationship with what we were designing.
Thus, studying his work in detail, there appeared certain constants: ants, wide eyes, melting watches, organic forms, elephants with long legs, etc., a thousand surrealist images, rich in suggestion.
Our obsession was to design pieces which were not to be understood except through the Dalí original. From all the Master’s strong images, we have made a selection of families which have a relationship with a particular use; it pleased us to make an allusion to money for the wallets and purses, an allusion to eyes for spectacle cases, or to the telephone for ‘phone number books...., always with a conceptual value which supports the design.
Throughout the work I have tried to think what Salvador Dalí would have done at this point. As I knew him very well and collaborated with him in some important projects, I have made an effort to imagine what he would have said, had he been still alive."