2018
‘Hilos Invisibles’ (Invisible Threads) is a collective project that celebrates the legacy of Uruguayan architect Julio Vilamajo Echaniz.
It was made of a furniture collection inspired by the works of the modernist architect, commissioned by Matteo Fogale and designed in collaboration with 7 Uruguayan design studios.
The design of the pieces was inspired in the architect´s original drawings that can be found in the archives of the School of Architecture in Uruguay.
The entire collection was manufactured in different workshops in Uruguay, and it was exhibited in The Aram Gallery during the 2018 London Design Festival, in the UK.
Americana dresser
The sketch, that was the basis of his inspiration, shows a carpentry detail on the display cabinets that were made for the annex of the Americana Pastry shop that was designed by Julio Vilamajo in 1944.
Vilamajo reflected the first steps of modern architecture on it, features that are seen in his work. In the Americana Pastry shop annex project, we can see the influence of the Streamline in furniture design through the addition of curved and angular lines.
It is on the basis of these premises that Americana is developed. It´s a dresser that is made of curved shapes which reflect the selected sketch.
When selecting the typology, a contemporary and more provocative approach was used, with a plane that is embedded in angular fashion (mirror) on the main volume.
Choice of materials
Using the elm root veneer takes us back to the furniture trends of that time; and the contemporary and mystical character is given by the bronze-coloured reflecting crystal glass which allows it to reflect and see through. The handmade stoneware trays provide it with an ornamental touch, as well as the brass-made supports and handle.
Materials:
Elm root wood veneer, bronze-coloured reflecting crystal glass, handmade stoneware and brass. Handmade in Uruguay.
Dimensions:
100 x 45 x 151 (h) cm
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Participating design studios:
Estudio Diario / Estudio Claro / Menini Nicola / MUAR diseño / Carolina Palombo / Claudio Sibille / Rafael Antía.
Images:
Photography at the Faculty of Engineering by Tali Kimelman / Product photography by Florencia Antia / Exhibition photography at The Aram Gallery by Emma Archer.
Support:
Uruguay XXI, Chamber of Design Uruguay, Uruguayan Embassy in London, Casa Vilamajó Museum, The Aram Gallery , British Council, Amtica Carpentry, Sagario and BIA.
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“Americana dresser” is on display and sale in Mint Shop (2 North Terrace, Alexander Square, London, SW3 2BA).
www.mintshop.co.uk
2019
Milonga is a living-room side table that is made of two support surfaces at different levels.
Inspired by Milonga, a traditional dance in the River Plate, its formal proposition suggests the posture and movements that characterize this dance and that are performed by a couple, male and female, who are portrayed from a contemporary perspective.
The use of materials such as wood, bronze and iron relates to tables found in traditional cafés and bars, scenes where music and milonga develop.
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Dimensions:
52 x 43 x 67 (h) cm
Milonga is part of the Indoor Collection 2019 of Saccaro.
www.saccaro.com.br
2019
Formal play and the search for simplicity.
Playing like a child and joining two prisms so as to make their materiality become their distinctive feature, are the basis of this collection.
Having simple lines, it proposes a geometrical application in the use of materials and details. It provides spaces with elegance and sophistication.
It has three compartments that are lined with a natural wood veneer, with front doors; and a fourth compartment that works as a home bar unit, with top access and a special metal micro-textured finishing.
Every detail such as handles, finishings on its legs and the home bar unit were designed to develop a different and unique product with a strong aesthetic character.
It takes its inspiration from bars in the 50s, that promoted small social gatherings at home to enjoy some drinks, hold conversations and listen to music in a more intimate, private and exclusive atmosphere.
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Dimensions:
230 x 50 x 83 (h) cm
Catalá buffet is part of the Indoor Collection 2019 of Saccaro.
www.saccaro.com.br
2019
Formal play and the search for simplicity.
Playing like a child and joining two prisms so as to make their materiality become their distinctive feature, are the basis of this collection.
Having simple lines, it proposes a geometrical application in the use of materials and details. It provides spaces with elegance and sophistication.
Lined in natural wood veneer, it has two front doors, having the right one a special micro-textured finishing.
Shelves, with an optional mirror that can be placed on top of the wooden surface.
It has an internal LED-lights system that is activated by a door opening sensor.
Every detail such as handles, finishings on its legs and the home bar unit were designed to develop a different and unique product with a strong aesthetic character.
It takes its inspiration from bars in the 50s, that promoted small social gatherings at home to enjoy some drinks, hold conversations and listen to music in a more intimate, private and exclusive atmosphere.
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Dimensions:
90 x 50 x 180 (h) cm
Catalá Cabinet is part of the Indoor Collection 2019 of Saccaro.
www.saccaro.com.br
2015
Simplicity and lightness. It aims at transcending fashion and time.
Set of center and side tables, with simple lines that provide spaces with an aire of sophistication.
The side table has a compartment to store mobile devices and magazines.
Materials:
Solid mahogany wooden tops and details in steel with antique copper finish. Handcraft finishing.
Dimensions:
Side table: 95 x 50 x 45 (h) cm
Coffee table: 50 x 50 x 62 (h) cm
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Awards:
Finalist, Salão Design 2015, Brazil
Category: Furniture for Dining and Living Rooms
Professional Modality.
2016
Cúbica is a line of wall mounting bathroom accessories that is made of mahogany wood and bronze.
It has a strong aesthetic element, a modern language and a basic formal look that conveys an art concept in each piece.
Its care for details and contrast of materials provide spaces with an air of distinction.
It´s made of: single hanger, double hanger, toilet paper support, shelf, towel bar and mirror.
This set stands out due to its formal simplicity and the use of unusual materials in a bathroom environment.
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Awards:
First Prize, Salão Design 2016, Brazil
Category: Furniture for Kitchens, Laundry Rooms and Bathrooms
Professional Modality
Honoree, NYCxDESIGN Awards 2020, New York
Category: Bath Fittings
2017
Disco arises from researching light and its encounter with stone as matter.
Light, able to shape emotions and irradiate warmth, is also a space sculptor. It generates a state of lightness on stone as well as admiration; it shows its veins, its layers, and the history of the matter … it invites us to reflect.
The product´s scale makes it stand out in space, and its basic geometry achieves simplicity in the proposal.
It´s made of a flat lampshade manufactured in Carrara marble and a steel-made structure with bronze finishing; it generates reflected, indirect light that provides a warmer and nicer ambience.
The collection is defined in 3 sizes, one for the table lamp and two others for the floor ones.
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Dimensions:
Disco table: 40 x 18 x 65 (h) cm
Disco floor M: 50 x 22 x 95 (h) cm
Disco floor L: 78 x 35 x 150 (h) cm
Ph: Marcos Guiponi.
2017
Conecta is a line of indirect light wall lamps, inspired in the connection between matter, energy, the human being and the universe as an interactive system.
It uses stone and it shows the history of creation, the origin on its veins; light as a necessary form of energy; and humanity, “the own self” reflected on a mirror; invites us to reflect on our place in the universe, “where we come from, and where we are going” … it invites us to connect.
Conecta suggests an ambience of warm, pleasant and comfortable light. Having a defined geometry, its shapes, materials and colours generate wall sculptures that dress and make the space stand out with elegance.
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Conecta I
Dimensions: 75 x 5,5 x 40 (h) cm
Materials: Calacatta Gold marble, Rosso Levanto marble, mirror, bronze finish steel, laquered MDF.
Conecta II
Dimensions: 60 x 3,5 x 41 (h) cm
Materials: Nero Marrquina marble, Rosso Verona marble, mirror, bronze finish steel, laquered MDF.
Ph: Marcos Guiponi.
2017
Nu is an indirect light floor lamp that provides lighting warmth to indoor spaces and gives any special corner character.
It´s made of a flat lamp made in sintered stone that produces reflected light, and it has a brass base and arm.
The product´s scale makes it stand out in space, going together with the aesthetic nature of the materials used. Its geometric character achieves simplicity in its formal proposal.
Differential – The aesthetic proposal and the combination of a “floor lamp” typology with the “reflected light” one make it quite an unusual product.
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Materials:
Neolith Estatuario (sintered stone), steel with bronze finish.
Dimensions:
77 x 60 x 92 (h) cm
Ph: Marcos Guiponi.
2017
HUM is a light-looking sofa collection that is made of beech, natural fibers weave (rattan) and velvet upholstery.
It´s a reinterpretation that involves using natural materials and traditional manufacturing techniques, resulting in a contemporary piece of furniture in which some classical features can be clearly spotted.
The guiding principles of the Hum collection are: simplicity, lightness and formal plainness, but also contrasts.
Pieces of furniture that are made of natural fibers have a unique quality that provides spaces with texture, warmth and timelessness.
‘We looked for a new approach towards traditional upholstery sofas and the use of natural fibers by keeping handmade processes and techniques that generate warm and lasting furniture”
The origin of the name
HUM (means “black” in Guarani) is the native name of the Rio Negro, a river located in the provinces in Uruguay that ‘wraps’ and ‘embraces’ different cities and towns throughout its course, such as Mercedes, Carolina´s birth place.
It is available in 3 sizes: single seater sofa, 3-seater sofa and chaise longue.
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Materials:
Beech wood (FSC) with natural matt lacquer stain finish, canework, cushions in velvet.
Dimensions:
3 seater sofa: 200 x 80 x 75 (h) cm
chaise longue: 165 x 80 x 75 (h) cm
1 seater sofa: 105 x 80 x 75 (h) cm
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Awards:
Second Prize, Salão Design 2018, Brazil
Category Professional
2017
This line is made of a chaise longue, 3 seat sofa and ottoman.
It has a simple shape and soft curves and its backrest is enveloping, pleasant and supportive.
It´s available in neutral tones, being the ones on the backrest and seat different. Its metal legs provide it with lightness.
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Dimensions:
Sofa: 226 x 86 x 75 (h) cm
Chaise longue: 166 x 86 x 75 (h) cm
Pouf: 75 x 75 x 42 (h) cm
2014
Loop meets the new ways of living spaces … spending time seating, laying down, using your notebook or tablet, hanging out with friends …. these are just some of the purposes it serves.
Inspired by retro and elegant car design lines of the 50s, it offers the chance to be personalized by means of its pieces´ mobility: backrest, headrest and support surfaces.
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Dimensions:
190 x 87 x 76 (h) cm
2015
POD is a floor lamp that was inspired in nature. It takes plant growth as a reference, its sprouts, branches until bearing fruit time.
This concept is expressed in the way that iron structures join, in the bronze details that generate new textures every time it grows, until it reaches the light wrapped on a lampshade that is made of felt, with an amorphous shape as if it were a fruit or a bud.
The lampshade is handmade by Siv Anneli Goranson, a Swedish textile artist.
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Materials:
Merino wool felt, powder coated steel, bronze.
It uses a LED lamp.
Dimensions:
52 x 58 x 185 (h) cm
2018
Cosah is a light-looking home bar, covered with a movable surface that entices and invites us to discover what´s inside.
Its fine metal structure remains hidden, surrounded by a textured surface (skin) made of leather fringes that generate movement, and accentuate its quality of light and dynamic body, seducing us, inviting to the game …
It has a shelf inside to lay out some bottles and glasses.
This collection is made of different pieces of consoles and containers, all of them sharing the lightness and movement features.
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Dimensions:
80 x 30 x 85 (h) cm
2019
The set of tables “Lenguas de Diamante”, was designed for the ‘POETIC FORMS´ exhibition and celebrates the centennial of “Lenguas de Diamante” (“Diamond tongues”), a book that catapulted Uruguayan poet Juana de Ibarbouru to fame in 1919.
The exhibit was showed at the London Design Fair in September 2019 and there were 9 Uruguayan design studios that participated with their creations that were inspired by different poems in the book. It was curated by Matteo Fogale and backed by Uruguay XXI and the Uruguayan Chamber of Design (CDU).
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In the poem: “Las lenguas de diamantes” (“Diamond tongues”), the poet talks about the magic of love between two lovers under the moon, an instant of passion and supreme sensorial connection that nothing should disturb.
The set of tables portrays that union and connection. Lovers´ inside and out are expressed in the materiality, in suede leather and aluminum. Aluminum represents their skins dyed by moonlight and suede implies carnal pleasure.
There is a texturized relief detail on the table tops, a pattern that carries on from one table to another and symbolizes the existing passion, connection and silent communication between lovers, the “supreme dialogue”.
In order to set this pattern and texture, MUAR took 1930 and 1940 doors in Montevideo, as a reference. Art Deco was very welcomed in this city, what left great examples of such style in a range of ornamental and architectural applications.
From a formal standpoint, the tables are also inspired by the drawings on the doors of that time which had random geometry and were intriguing.
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Materials:
San cast aluminium and suede.
Dimensions:
Big table: 106 x 58 x 32 (h) cm
Small table: 84 x 50 x 32 (h) cm
Handcrafted in Portugal
Limited Edition
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Juana de Ibarbourou was one of the greatest poets in Ibero-American literature and was considered transgressive and passionate. Her feminist-oriented works made her a very controversial woman for her times. Her literary work, which left a mark in her country and the region, was first modernist and revealing in sensorial images. Love and lack of it, beauty, nature, the body and eroticism were recurrent topics in her avant-garde creations.
“Lenguas de Diamante” (“Diamond tongues”) was published in 1919. It was her first book and it gave her local and international recognition immediately, making her an icon of Spanish-speaking literature.
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DIAMOND TONGUES (1919)
Under the full moon, a copper wafer,
In silence and vague exaltation we wandered,
Like thin shadows gliding on
Bronze sands on the edge of the lake.
Silence on our lips has put forth a rose.
O if my lover is overcome by temptation and speaks!
The corolla of petals, dropping, like an injured bird,
Will fall and will fracture the soft moonlit mystery.
O gods, let him not speak! With the sturdiest of bandages
In your hands, stifle his voice!
And if need be, death’s mantle of stone
To bandage his mouth tear open!
I do not want him to speak. I do not want him to speak.
In the depths of this silence, how a word does offend!
O tongue of ashes! O miserable tongue!
Do not now endeavour to break open the seal of my lips!
Under the copper moon, silent lovers,
Let us moan with our eyes, let us speak with our eyes.
Our twin pupils, two diamond tongues
Moved by the magic of dialogues supreme.
2019
´The star´, - a wall mirror-, was designed for the ‘POETIC FORMS´ exhibition and celebrates the centennial of “Lenguas de Diamante” (“Diamond tongues”), a book that catapulted Uruguayan poet Juana de Ibarbouru to fame in 1919.
The exhibit was showed at the London Design Fair in September 2019 and there were 9 Uruguayan design studios that participated with their creations that were inspired by different poems in the book. It was curated by Matteo Fogale and backed by Uruguay XXI and the Uruguayan Chamber of Design (CDU).
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In the poem “The star”, the poet portrays a simple image of nature, the reflection of a star on a pond and the magical things happening around it, what is used as a metaphor of a personal fantasy to treasure.
The mirror tries to portray and capture the scenes happening around the pond, the admiration, the play of reflections and lights and the resulting distortion.
It was made in several overlapping layers of hand-textured brass and ancient Belgian mirror.
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Materials:
Antiqued mirror and brass
Dimensions:
90 x 10 x 61 (h) cm
Handcrafted in Uruguay.
Limited Edition.
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Juana de Ibarbourou was one of the greatest poets in Ibero-American literature and was considered transgressive and passionate. Her feminist-oriented works made her a very controversial woman for her times. Her literary work, which left a mark in her country and the region, was first modernist and revealing in sensorial images. Love and lack of it, beauty, nature, the body and eroticism were recurrent topics in her avant-garde creations.
“Lenguas de Diamante” (“Diamond tongues”) was published in 1919. It was her first book and it gave her local and international recognition immediately, making her an icon of Spanish-speaking literature.
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THE STAR (1919)
The star is reflected in the water
Like a sequin of brightest gold
Or an unexpected flaw on the
Greyness and roundness of the ancient pond.
In admiration but absorbed in doubt,
Wondering what is it that shines in the pool,
The frogs sit still on the rim
In patient and silent adoration.
And the mad shepherd whose dreams are of stars
Dips his imprudent hand in the water
Wanting to rescue the star in the bog,
Quite set on his impossible salvage.
Croak, croak! The frogs moan in desolation.
The reflection is broken, the star is torn,
All that is left in the pond is the trace
Of threads of light, subtle and golden.
And I, who attend to the lesson and harbour
Reflected in the pond within me the sweet star
Of an illusion,
Dare not yearn for reality anymore.
And as if hypnotised by the maddening
Desire for my treasure to live on unbroken,
I tenaciously guard my orb of gold.
I gaze on it fixedly, but I never touch.
2019
CANDOMBE COLLECTION
A collection of rugs that was designed exclusively for Ferreira de Sá Rugs (Portugal).
Uruguay, which is located in the south overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, is a country with an ancestral culture.
A place where neighbourhood streets are a meeting point to light a fire and warm up the drums rawhide covers.
One drum responds to the call of another and decides to join the group.
A tribute to African ancestors, who were slaves in past times, is paid with the “Candombe” beats.
And they celebrate and honour freedom.
“Candombe” is a cultural expression that has a black African origin; it emerges in colonial times as a form of expression and socialization of Africans that were slaved once getting off-board in Montevideo´s port. Those Africans found a way of connecting with their land through music and dance.
This collection pays tribute to the integration of different towns and cultures; and how those artistic expressions adapted, stay alive nowadays and give our country an identity.
Discover the complete collection and download the catalog.
Collection created by: Estudio Diario, Estudio Claro, Carolina Palombo, Menini Nicola y MUAR diseño.
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TALÍ
The drum gathers people around rhythm and dancing. They get out of their homes with their tali on their shoulders, hanging the drum, they head for the squares and corners to gather, to warm up the rawhide covers, to play the drums, to dance, to revive the ritual … it´s Candombe!
This design proposal stems from working with the drum´s shape and volume, deforming and splitting its elements in colour stains.
Composition: Mohair Wool
Size: 220x300 cm
Quality: Hand-Tufted
Ph: Antonio Teixeira
Location: Museu Soares dos Reis (Porto, Portugal)
Inspiration photo: Pata Eizmendi Fotografía©
Talí is part of the Candombe Collection for Ferreira de Sá (www.ferreiradesa.pt).
2019
CANDOMBE COLLECTION
A collection of rugs that was designed exclusively for Ferreira de Sá Rugs (Portugal).
Uruguay, which is located in the south overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, is a country with an ancestral culture.
A place where neighbourhood streets are a meeting point to light a fire and warm up the drums rawhide covers.
One drum responds to the call of another and decides to join the group.
A tribute to African ancestors, who were slaves in past times, is paid with the “Candombe” beats.
And they celebrate and honour freedom.
“Candombe” is a cultural expression that has a black African origin; it emerges in colonial times as a form of expression and socialization of Africans that were slaved once getting off-board in Montevideo´s port. Those Africans found a way of connecting with their land through music and dance.
This collection pays tribute to the integration of different towns and cultures; and how those artistic expressions adapted, stay alive nowadays and give our country an identity.
Discover the complete collection and download the catalog.
Collection created by: Estudio Diario, Estudio Claro, Carolina Palombo, Menini Nicola y MUAR diseño.
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GONDWANA
As continents were united and then split.
As people were together and then split.
As new forms of culture and new rituals are created.
This proposal tries to express that connection with the roots, the ancestral wisdom; there will always be channels of communication with the past.
The austere colour palette, almost bi-colour, with transitions in shades, without creating boundaries, inviting to reflect.
Composition: Botanical Silk
Size: 140x300 cm / 130x300 cm
Quality: Hand-Tufted
Inspiration photo: Pata Eizmendi Fotografía©
Gondwana is part of the Candombe Collection for Ferreira de Sá (www.ferreiradesa.pt).