Vintage delta ashtray by Antoni Bonamusa for Ciervo industrial 1966

Ashtray awarded with the silver delta of the ADI FAD design awards, Barcelona in 1966. The delta ashtray was initially designed as a unique piece for the stand that the Formica firm presented at the Hogarotel furniture fair in 1966. At the initiative of ADI FAD, it was presented to the prize competition organized by this institution, obtaining the delta of silver (hence his name) in the call of the same year. From then on its serial production will begin. The delta uses aluminum as a basic element, although other materials are used at its ends in order to optimize its operation. Thus, the lower base has a cast iron plate, which prevents the ashtray from tipping even though the diameter of the upper base is smaller than that of the lower one. In turn, the upper base consists of two steel sheets inclined inwards. The choice of steel responds to the fact that this material is more resistant to the marks left by cigarette burns, while the inclination favors that the butts roll inwards. The funnel shape of the central body guarantees their fall to the storage tank. The ashtray is perceived as a unitary and synthetic set, and evokes the classical column. Both its cylindrical shape, widened in the upper area, and the horizontal tripartite partition, which indicates the parts that compose it, suggest the basic elements of the pilaster (base, shaft, capital). Possibly this subtle association is what allows it to be understood as a gestalt, simple and essential.