Ethnicity stools20. Jun2012
Designer Jose de la O tries to understand the ethnicity of the Mexican population through design.
Here he describes his concept: "When Mexico is represented on a international event, like a World Expo, the Olympics or the WorldCup, mexicans proudly refers mostly to their Pre-Columbian roots. Mexico’s Aztec, Mayan and other ancient Mexican culture’s roots are shown in color and shape, to represent it’s cultural identity. Yet, more than 60% of the Mexican population is mestizo, a mixture of Spaniard with Amerindian. So, how should the Mexican ethnicity should be represented? Or is the lack of ethnic purity and identity itself?"
And how he applied to designing the stools: "
This issue is translated into a series of “Mestizing Stools”. They consist of several generations. The first group consist of stools that are painted in primary colors and carry a circular, triangular or squared top. Then these stools are mixed with one another to make a group of three new stools, and so on until the fourth generation. Finally the process ends when the stools become brown, and their shape bares little resemblance to their ancestors." - Jose de la O
All photos from Jose de la O website.
First generation of stools.---
Second generation of stools.---
Third generation of stools.---
Fourth and last generation of stools.---
Diagram showing evolution of stools.---
The work of Mexican born, Netherlands based José de la O can be divided in two aspects of design: The first one is a research oriented practice focusing on alternative ways of human communication (Feeling Presence Through Absence, 2009 or Transcendental Tunes, 2010); The second one focuses on designing a collection of products inspired on sustainability and cultural ingenuity (Anty-Fly Sphere 2010, Window Agriculture 2009) .In late 2010, de la O founded Studio José de la O, where apart of doing research based and product design, he provides creative consultancy, commission work and design solutions to companies (like Philips and Kartell), design studios and artists.
In summer of 2010 together with other international designers, co-founded The Anthill Collective, a collective where they explore the interrelation between Design and other disciplines. The first Anthill exhibition “The SuperOrganism” happened during Dutch Design Week 2010.
de la O’s work can be seen in publications from the UK, The Netherlands, Belgium, Mexico and Russia. He has exhibited at The Great Indoors (Maastricht 2009), Inside Design Amsterdam (Amsterdam 2010), SuperOrganism Exhibition during Dutch Design Week (Eindhoven 2010), Appartamento Lago during Milan Furniture Fair (Milan 2011), Made in Brainport (Istambul & Eindhoven, 2011) Thoughts of Home (Dutch Design Week, 2011) and The Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City (October 2011-February 2012)
Recently José de la O has been recognized by Architectural Digest Mexico as one of the Top Ten Mexican Young Designers." - bio taken from Jose de la O website.
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