44|PROTAGONISTA Santa & Cole reports on its website that Anto- ni Arola is a leading figure in the current panorama of Spanish design. 2003 National Design Award, his work is characteri- zed by its versatility, which has allowed him to brilliantly mana- ge both the design of a perfume bottle or a lamp, or even interior spaces. Antoni Arola, defined him- self as a “lamp maker”, why? Antoni Arola: Because I make lamps, mainly. This says more about me than anything else, for someone who does not know me. Nina Masó: I think it’s because the lamp has more magic. In that sen- se, Toni is a magician, and enjoys playing with magic. I think it has more magic to make a lamp than a table. He has also moved towards lamp making because they allow greater creativity. Antoni Arola: Yes, yes, in this sense indeed. In addition, a lamp does not have to endure 80 kilos, like a chair, it is more ethereal. Nina Masó a lamp is more ethereal, giving more chances, more poetry, illusion ... not as tangible as a table. Antoni Arola: And then it is the ma- terial, the light, which is the most sublime material, the most subtle. Working with it is always interesting. Nina Masó, editor of Santa & Cole, how does Antoni Arola fit a company like Santa & Cole? What does Arola have that other designers don’t? Nina Masó: To start with, Arola plays with poetry, plays with light. He doesn’t start with a form, but with a sense, trying to give the best light. In the end, he finishes with just a form, just with a function, but his first idea is poetry. Santa & Cole is precisely a company where we always liked that: playing with light, play with the atmosphere, the environment. And Toni, the first time he came to Santa & Cole he did timidly and quietly with a lamp called Nimba and currently the best-selling lamp of the catalogue. The truth is that we were thrilled with his circular lamp. At that time there were no circular lamps on the market and we were so thrilled that today we continue to work with him on almost all his new designs. We continue to work like the first day. According to Santa & Cole, An- toni Arola “in design he admires above all, the common sense.” Why? How important is common sense in Arola’s works? Antoni Arola: I would not say ‘abo- ve all’, but ‘at the beginning’ of everything. Common sense seems to me a basic form of work. Above all I would place other things, per- haps more subtle. Common sense is as the least common multiple. From there we start working. And not only this, but it’s okay for one thing, if you have common sense, if we analyse it, it may make sense to many different people in many different places, in different times. I like the search for this. It’s a bit timeless and intercultural. Common sense can even get this far. BlancoWhite, Reddot Design Award 2012 and the 2012 Silver Delta Award, was created as a series of four models of essen- tial shapes, usable as desktops and bright shelves bookcases, casual or lighting fixtures. Toni Arola, where did the inspira-