Santa & Cole, Ediciones de diseño S.A.

On 3 July 2010, the President of the Generalitat (autonomous government of Catalonia), José Montilla, presented the prizes awarded by the National Council for Culture and Arts (CoNCA) and which the Catalan government established in 1982 to honour people and institutions whose contributions have been important for the culture of Catalonia.

On 3 July last Miguel Milá received the most important prize in the sphere of Culture in Catalonia for his professional and artistic career in the year in which his first lamp, the TMC, celebrated its 50th anniversary. The jury, presided over by Francesc Guardans, rewarded Miguel Milá for “having demonstrated that the path to the height of design is best covered by objects which accompany without getting in the way than those which dazzle; that good design develops industry, but never forgets craftsmanship; that good design is related to good ideas and not to the temporary nature of fashion; that three generations can share, at least, the same lamp, the TMM, and with it, the same idea of what comfort is; on being concerned, precisely, with an invisible but perceptible thing such as comfort in an era dominated by image”.

Miguel Milá forms part of the generation which laid the foundations of modern design, creating objects “with little design”, which recreate the poetry of the simple object and respond to the need to create always from rigour and honesty. First National Design Award in 1987, the winner on six occasions of the ADI-FAD Golden Delta and decorated with the Creu Sant Jordi by the Generalitat, his extensively rewarded career reached its peak on becoming the first Spanish designer to receive a Compasso D’Oro in 2008.

In the words of Milá himself, reproduced in an interview this last summer, “a prize has always been gratifying for me, I like it, it flatters me when they give me an award, it is a demonstration of affection toward you. And as García Lorca said, we work for people to love us”.


There are not enough prizes to thank you for each of the works that you have given us. Thank you, Miguel!

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