ISLABLANCA, the purity of the Mediterranean vernacular architecture

In GANDIABLASCO lies, in essence, the very own personality of José A. Gandía-Blasco Canales, a lover of the Mediterranean lifestyle as synonymous with the enjoyment of the outdoors throughout the year. If there is a place that marked a before and after in the designer’s career, that is, in addition to his hometown Valencia, the island of Ibiza, which he visited for the first time almost 50 years ago. Its colour, which is very present in his life, gives name to his new outdoor furniture collection for GANDIABLASCO: ISLABLANCA.

On a technical level, ISLABLANCA reinterprets the constructive method devised by José A. Gandía-Blasco Canales and his team two decades ago and that gave life to the first collections of GANDIABLASCO outdoor furniture, born also on the island of Ibiza and bud of the reinvention of the family business. Both its aesthetic concept and its studied method of manual assembly are a faithful reflection of the respect towards the creative and industrial legacy of our brand, alongside the concern to experiment with aluminium: the material that shapes most of our collections.

ISLABLANCA is characterised by lean and straight lines and by the great sturdiness of the structure of each of the designs that compose it, including a chaise lounge, a lounge chair, a 2 seat sofa, modules and coffee tables. The cubic and essential forms of all the elements of the series evoke the purity of lines and the typical volumetry of Ibizan vernacular architecture, which constitutes one of the most relevant Mediterranean legacies that we have in Spain from the Greek civilization to the present day. Those old country houses with thick walls built with local materials and covered in white lime paint continue to merge with the clouds and transcend the passage of time with sobriety, without stridency or superfluous decorations. ISLABLANCA pays homage to the dignity and honesty of these constructions, which throughout the centuries have fascinated great architects, photographers and writers.

The collection, modular in nature, is based on its own construction system that combines welded aluminium profiles with cutting and machining profiles, thus allowing the manufacturing process to be optimised to the maximum. The manufacturing process of ISLABLANCA begins with the cutting of long aluminium bars and with the subsequent industrial machining and welding of the subparts that make up the cutting of the structure. The structures are thermo-lacquered with high quality powder paint and they are highly weatherproof. The process ends with the union between profiles and subsets welded with plastic hardware and dowels; they are developed exclusively for the profiling used in ISLABLANCA designs and they include manual and custom assembly of the structures.

The mats that integrate the seats and backrests of the seating pieces of the ISLABLANCA collection are composed of a base of polyurethane foam rubber and polyester fibre with water-repellent fabric and of a layer of surface wadding that create the unique comfort of the seat with properties of breathability and quick drying thanks to the draining capacity of the foam. The upholstered pieces of the collection are removable and they are presented in all the textile finishes of the GANDIABLASCO catalogue. On the other hand, a decorative sewn edging brings personality and uniqueness to the mats.

The ISLABLANCA coffee table consists of a board made with the innovative ultra-compact surface Dekton® by Cosentino, this is resistant to stains and chemicals and it is attached to the structure through a durable adhesive and which is suitable for outdoor use.

As an exclusive novelty for this collection, our colour chart for the powder-coated aluminium structures is extended with two metallic shades in night blue and golden. Thus, our offer of finishes, characterised by a high level of customisation among about 70 options inspired by the vernacular architecture of Ibiza, includes from now on a new colour to transmit stability while evoking the seascapes of the island of Ibiza.