Bagdad Café

The BAGDAG CAFÉ bench and seat are a daring proposal that takes the use of a single material to the limit. Precision-bent 8 mm COR-TEN steel sheet generates the ergonomic shape of this product. The properties of CORTEN steel ensure that the profile becomes a continuous line while the material becomes a texture. After sandblasting and a baked finish with “CORTEN-effect” paint, the surface finish is smooth and pleasant to touch. Both items emerge almost immediately from a fleeting but fertile encounter between 20th century visual references and the construction potential of steel sheet. The BAGDAG CAFÉ bench and seat were designed for Escofet in 2000 by architect Helio Piñón as part of the MORELLA Series, which emerged with the idea of creating a suite of professionally-built street furniture, consistent in their form and genuine in their character. The MORELLA series emerged with the idea of creating a suite of professionally-built street furniture, consistent in their form and genuine in their character. Produced in CORTEN Steel because of its natural finish and its quality appearance, the MORELLA Series has been designed to withstand the test of time, guaranteed by its materiality and manifested by its presence. The elementary character of this series makes it predisposed to relate to its surroundings, triggering more complex spatial relations, unlike other furniture that is only aimed at focusing on itself. The MORELLA Series, named after the city where it first became a feature of public spaces- emerges with a monumental purpose, in the sense of seeking the essence that bestows permanence. This quality permits an extension of its use to historic areas where the textures and the environments generated by superimposed cultures and times cannot accept the imposition of just any material or the emergence of just any form.