ESDIR

Escuela Superior
de Diseño
de La Rioja

Esdir is an official institution with a trajectory of more than 130 years in the teaching of design.

The current educational offer is:

With more than 450 students, ESDIR is a dynamic college in which a great number of activities are organized during the academic year: workshops, lectures, publications, exhibitions, visits to companies and all type of events related to design. Besides, we are part of Erasmus+ program according to which we welcome students from a variety of countries and at the same time our students can make part of their studies abroad.

Our accredited trained teaching staff is deeply involved in the teaching task as well as in the daily follow up of our students’ work.

We are located in a wonderful building in the city centre with the perfect facilities for the teaching and practice of design. The fact of providing training in four design fields makes us a unique college in the north of Spain and makes transversality and exchange among studies easier.

In the year 2016/2017 started our first official Master studies: Master in Packaging design for the food and wine industry, and in the year 2018/2019 the Master in Footwear design and innovation.

History .

Our College is an institution created in 1886. Its origin is rooted in the best tradition of artistic education born in England in the mid1850s with the aim of improving the design of daily objects.

The beautiful building in which ESDIR is located, with typology of cloister plan, was projected in 1914 by Antonio Rubio and Luis Mosteiro, following the eclectic style that prevailed in Madrid at that time. The treatment and variety of materials and spaces make it an outstanding example of integration of decorative arts and architecture.

Since then we have been the only institution devoted to the teaching of arts in La Rioja. For decades, the college has trained craftsmen and professionals in different artistic occupations.

From 1963 onwards, successive educative systems have been including this college in formal teaching in each historical moment. In 1973 Decoration was introduced as study field. In 1990 Secondary Education in Arts was included. And in 1996 vocational training (middle and upper studies linked to graphic design, interior design and artistic ceramics) were also taught.

In 2010, once approved the law which sets the organization of artistic upper studies, the college offers upper studies in design equivalent to official university degrees and organized under the ECTS credit system set by Bolonia decree in the fields of graphic, product, interior and fashion design.
Since then we are the Escuela Superior de Diseño de La Rioja (Esdir)