Casa Conde de Vilas Boas, in Barcelos, will be recovered to welcome the Museum of Portuguese Design, with the collection of the collector Paulo Parra, announced the municipality today.
In a statement, the municipality adds that on Monday the protocol was signed for the transfer, for 11 years, of that collection.
The number of annual instalments to be paid by the municipality to Paulo Parra will be 15 thousand euros in the first two years and 35 thousand in the following years.
At the age of 11, the protocol can be renewed.
The Chamber shall have the right of an option if Paulo Parra decides to sell the collection.
You will also have to edit a bilingual book about the collection.
The museum will open in a maximum period of 18 months, but the estate is already in the custody of the municipality.
The ‘Paulo Parra Collection’ has about 500 pieces, representing “the largest industrial companies and designers of the country” in the areas of ceramics, glass, wood, metal, plastics and paper.
It is constituted in particular by “reference products” of companies such as Vista Alegre, Electroceramics, Porcelanas de Coimbra, Bordalo Pinheiro, Oliva, Hipólito and TAP, among others.
“This is a unique artistic heritage in the history of Portuguese design, innovation and technology”, stresses the municipality.
It estimates that that heritage has a “never lower” value of one million euros, although it admits that it is a difficult calculation to make, “given that there are no national or international references that allow a comparison, because of their unique quality”.
The municipality considers that, with the creation of this museum, it makes an “important contribution” to a greater knowledge of Portuguese design.
Speeches by Luís Braga da Cruz, former Minister of Economy, former chair of the North Regional Coordination and Development Commission and professor at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, and Paula Tavares, Director of the School of Design of the Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, to highlight the “great interest for Barcelos” in hosting the ‘Paulo Parra Collection’.
Paulo Parra is a designer, professor and collector, working in the areas of Product Design, Transportation and Architecture, Exhibition Design, Communication Design and Interfaces and Strategic Design.
