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Intersection, Studio KO
The private sphere of gallerist Miquel Alzueta
The Catalan publisher turned gallerist Miquel Alzueta has always seen himself as more of an art dealer than a collector. In the early spring of 2025, we had the pleasure of spending some time in his Barcelona home, capturing a few favorite rugs from Studio KO's Intersection collection in situ. While we were there, we couldn’t resist asking him a few questions about his illustrious career.
Date
May 22nd, 2025
Author
Beni
Photography
Romaine Laprade, Mari Luz Vidal
An oil painting on canvas from 1945 by artist Josep Mompou and a portrait of Miquel by Mari Luz Vidal.
We read that the first painting you collected at the ripe age of 24 was one by Josep Mompou. Can you describe it?
Miquel Alzueta
It was a post-Fauvist painting from 1927, depicting some Pyrenean mountains and a few houses. I was fascinated by Josep Mompou’s use of color, especially the way he inverted the tones of the sky and the mountains. It captivated me deeply, and he’s an artist I’ve continued to collect throughout my life.
A Rabat design, LIN-0244, is seen here anchoring the living space inside of Miquel's Barcelona apartment photographed by Romaine Laprade.
BENI
Did you know that Mompou was born into a family of bell makers? Apparently he brought this inspiration into his paintings at first, before dedicating himself solely to his art in the late 1920s.
Before your time as a gallerist, books were your bells, having founded Editorial Columna, a Catalan-language publishing house in 1985. What led you into that field, and kept you in it for the twenty years that followed?
Miquel Alzueta
What has always interested me most in life is books: as a reader, as a writer, and ultimately as a publisher. Publishing became both my profession and my way of life. For 25 years, I dedicated myself to building a project in my own language, one that aimed to be culturally significant and to help modernize the publishing of international literature in Catalonia. When I felt that this chapter had reached its natural conclusion, I knew it was time to step away and begin a new adventure: the adventure of art.
BENI
And then your career took a turn that led you to open the gallery in Barcelona. How would you describe the experience of walking through the space back then and now? And could you share some of your favorite pieces during both periods of time?
Designed in collaboration with Studio KO, TIM-0312 is a relic-turned rug inspired by the pragmatic beauty of a filing cabinet. Here, it's serving as a canvas for Miquel's free-form table designed by Charlotte Perriand.
"For me, collecting has always been a form of learning; an essential part of my personal education."
Inspired by the motif of a case-bound book, the COV-0702 rug features both Altas and Zahara techniques, offering a sensorial, mixed-medium experience underfoot. In stellar company, it shares space with one of Charlotte Perriand's Bloc cabinets.
Miquel Alzueta
When I left the publishing world, I was already collecting art and, in some ways, supporting young contemporary artists whose work I found compelling, helping them develop their careers. I never intended to run a conventional art gallery. In the beginning, my interests spanned art, architecture, design, furniture…they were broader, more eclectic passions.
The evolution of the gallery I founded 25 years ago to what it is today, now under the direction of my daughter Júlia, has been a journey toward specialization. We decided that the gallery's focus should be exclusively on contemporary art. For the past seven or eight years, that’s where we've been concentrating our efforts, leaving behind the other disciplines we once worked with. Those now remain part of my private sphere. I’m still deeply passionate about them, but I pursue them outside the gallery.
As a gallerist, I find it very difficult to choose one piece over another. I love everything that passes through my hands, whether it's expensive or cheap, created by a renowned artist or an unknown one. I’m equally passionate about a 16th-century Italian frame as I am about the latest painting by a young artist I’ve just discovered.
A Rabat design, CAL-1040, is seen here framing a small desk inside this treasure trove of an interior. The rug's design was inspired by the preservation of a weathered daily planner.
Above the desk, Les Essences De La Terra (1968) or The Essences of the Earth by the incomparable Joan Miró is hangs in a gilded frame.
BENI
Your home, where we photographed our Studio KO collection, is a brilliant assemblage of iconic design from Prouvé to Perriand. Tell us about your most prized possessions and why they have such a hold on you.
Miquel Alzueta
When I left the publishing world, I was already collecting art and, in some ways, suppProuvé and Perriand were a discovery for me some 30 or 35 years ago. One day, while walking through Paris, I came across a chair and a bookcase, and I was instantly fascinated. Since then, it has been a constant search and exploration of what I love, with the intention of building a world — which today is my home — where I can live among the pieces I’ve collected by Prouvé, Perriand, Le Corbusier...
Choosing just one piece is difficult, but I would say that I’m especially fond of the Bibliothèque Mexique and the free-form table by Charlotte Perriand. They are both deeply representative of that era, and when I found them, I knew they would never be part of the market, they would be part of my personal life. These are two pieces I hope to keep forever.
Designed in collaboration with Studio KO, PRO-0220 is a relic-turned rug inspired by the preservation of a time diary. Here, it's seen hanging inside of the Vincent Timsit Workshop in Casablanca, one of architect Jean-François Zevaco’s most celebrated works built in 1952.
BENI
You often speak of your affinity for utility and function, acquiring a great deal of brass tacks design from the 1950s. To us, the practical beauty of a rug is exactly that — an artful element of design that has the power to transform a space through the gesture of its presence. If you'll indulge us, if you were to collect a selection of rugs from our studio, what would they be and why?
Miquel Alzueta
These are two pieces I would love to own, and I believe they would fit perfectly with the kind of home and life I lead. One is light, the other dark; one has a more poetic quality, the other a more architectural one; one is defined by curved lines, the other by straight ones. They complement each other, in both color and form. I think they are two magnificent pieces that I would be very happy to one day incorporate into my home.
In the entry, STA-0203 sets the stage for a small table that serves as a pedestal for Moai by Mikel Benito, a sculpture inspired by the iconic monolithic human figures (Moai) carved by the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island.
BENI
By nature, a collector is a preservationist of ideas. To that end, what are some philosophies, poems, books or pieces of music that have preserved you in your life to date?
Miquel Alzueta
I believe that when practiced seriously, collecting requires a level of intellectual rigor that often surpasses that of a casual observer. It’s difficult to single out just one book, but L’Homme de l’art by Pierre Assouline made a lasting impression on me. When I first read it, I was completely captivated. It was a turning point, a book that planted the idea that one day, like Kahnweiler, I too might become a gallerist.
The striking "Black Venus" by self-taught artist Suzanne Valadon hangs here above the corner of CEN-0124, a rug designed in homage to the concealed mysteries of redacted documents.
Unpack the files of Intersection, shop the collection here designed by Studio KO.
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