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Designing simple things with impact

Educated as an industrial designer at ELISAVA in Barcelona, Francesc spent years working with bespoke interior solutions and furniture design. Today, he gravitates more towards everyday objects—how they function and how we relate to them. How small or humble things can carry emotional weight or tactile impact. 

"I think that is where design can be quietly powerful, in rethinking how we interact with a simple object or give it new meaning. I like exploring that intersection of function, emotion, and sensorial experience. "

Gasch's submission for the Muuto Design Contest, a distinctively tactile vase dubbed Waves, derives from that precise sentiment. It started with what the designer describes as a ‘very intuitive process’, playing with shapes, movements, and gradual shifts. 

Francesc Gasch "I was inspired by the shoreline and the water that surrounds Barcelona, how it flows around objects and shapes things in soft, unpredictable ways. I wanted to translate that into a form that felt calming but also dynamic. "

From sketch to 3D printed prototypes

It is minimal in form but with depth of texture and expression. With one foot in the nature of the Catalan landscape, the other in Scandinavian design values of simplicity, warmth, and progress.

"Barcelona has always been a city where design is part of the everyday—growing up here made it feel like a natural language. Being a designer in Barcelona means working within a rich design culture but also trying to find your own voice within that legacy", says Gasch. 

There’s a palpable tension between the natural and the innovative in Waves. It features soft and playful forms reminiscent of extrusions, subtly paying tribute to the potential of advanced sustainable manufacturing processes. Evocative sketches were turned into 3D printed prototypes, a process that enabled him to work freely with the surface details. 

Gasch’s idea was to create three iterations that could be both functional and sculptural, three degrees of the same design. The shapes are based on a simple yet profound gesture—a seamless tangency between two curves and a surface—that feels balanced and dynamic. These fluid forms capture a movement frozen in time, a sense of calm and natural rhythm inspired by the gentle undulation of waves.

Shape and material exploration

The wavy forms aren't just aesthetic—they also help with structural strength and create visual rhythm. The unique surface texture, born from the printing process, is left intentionally visible because it enhances that feeling of raw tactility and honest materiality. I like when the production technique leaves a trace in the final object—it tells a story.

Despite the innovative fabrication, Waves remains deeply grounded in its raw material—sand. Gasch describes sand as both primal and poetic, a substance that’s shaped architecture since ancient times yet holds fresh potential through new manufacturing processes. The initial prototype for the vase is 3D printed in a quartz-based material, maintaining the tactile essence of sand while achieving long-lasting structural integrity.

Francesc Gasch "When you touch the object, you’re touching sand. That feeling is so intrinsic to where I live—it’s elemental. "

While this first iteration offers a compelling sense of texture, Muuto is eager to explore how the form might evolve in other materials—crafted in terracotta, steel, or beyond—to bring a distinct character to the object’s expressive silhouette.

Where poetry meets everyday use

As light moves across the volumes, the form responds—shifting subtly, quietly engaging the viewer. It’s a material reimagined, durable yet sensuous, ancient yet contemporary.

On the question of ‘why this object now?’, Gasch pauses and reflects on the fact that we seem to be in a moment where people are looking for more softness in their spaces, not just in terms of materials but in shapes and feelings.

Francesc Gasch "I feel like Waves bring an organic flow of energy into the home. It could as easily work in a living room or bedroom as a public or commercial setting. The vase raises questions about how design can evoke emotion without being loud, how functionality and poetry can coexist. "

There’s a sense of looking forward, with an optimistic outlook on where design is headed, present in Gasch’s work and ethic.

"Muuto is a brand I’ve always admired, so being chosen as a winner feels like a very big opens up new conversations with people in the industry, which is always incredibly valuable to me. Personally, I want to keep working on objects that feel alive in some way—that connect with people’s senses or memories, and this shows that there is both space and interest for that.  "