Lluis Porqueras
Porqueras himself recognises that he began designing without really knowing what industrial design was all about. After doing some courses in architecture and renovating a few country houses, in 1956 he set up Stoa, the first Catalan design studio, which, amongst other things, brought out lights by Enric Franch. Together with Jaume Vaquero, he established Vapor in 1979. The company manufactured warm, simple lamps, going against the technological trendiness of the times. "I made very simple things", affirms Lluis. "Even though the manufacturing process involved 25 separate operations, the end result was simplicity itself; all I wanted to do was to pare away, to pare away and to pare away until I reached the pure essence of a simple, useful object"!. In his own words, "In time, I have come to realise that I have been a very bad businessman. Luckily, Marset showed an interest in what we were doing in Vapor and the major part of our catalogue now forms part of their collection". Some time later, he worked for Targetti for 3 years to create a lighting series. In addition to creating lights for his own organisation, he has also collaborated with companies such as Mobles 114 and Santa & Cole. The hanging Claris lamp and the Finisterre street marker, designed in conjunction with Joan Gaspar, stand out amongst his many designs.