Tornasol Studio @ Maison Object 2023, Rising Talents ‘Made in Spain’ – All photos by ©AETHION.
Design – Each year, the French design fair Maison & Objet gives visibility to the new generation of talents from around the world. This year the focus is on Spain. “Spanish design is at an unprecedented exciting moment.” Explained at Maison & Objet. “Established designers with a consolidated trajectory are developing projects worldwide, individual projects or in collaboration with relevant companies and institutions.”
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Marta Ayala Herrera.
The fair teamed up with the Madrid Design Festival to form a jury of professionals from the sector leading the substantial change in Spanish design. The Rising Talents ‘Made in Spain’ are: Marta Ayala Herrera, Max Milà Serra, Miguel Leiro, Tornasol Studio, Marta Armengol, Alvaro Aramburu, and Josep Safont.
Barcelona-based Marta Ayala Herrera experiments with industrial materials and craft processes to create. Her pieces are made with terracotta, cork, and concrete. Her work focuses on the individual’s relationship with his environment through the objects. A conical cork seat, a table made of contrasting material with bold shapes, and a set of hanging lamps geometrically intersect the space along its X, Y, and Z axes.
Max Milà Serra.
There’s a poetic balance of light, weight, and materials in the luminous work of Barcelona-based designer Max Milà Serra. Rocks, plants, wires, and electronic components float like outer space elements. My mission? “To bring the matter of light to other human dimensions. To awaken emotions and new connections through sustainable lighting connected to nature.”
‘Functionalism first’ is the mantra of Madrid-based designer Miguel Liero who runs his multitasking studio offering services in product design, consultancy, branding, and creative direction—made from tinted pine wood, nylon, and a knitted custom-designed upholstery, his Lectus daybed. Named after Roman couches, the design interprets the daybed as an elevation from the floor, requiring its own architecture and pavement to sustain weight.
Miguel Leiro.
Founded by industrial designer Inés Llaserais and architect and cartographer Guillermo Trapiellois, Madrid-based Tornasol Studio thrives at the intersection between architecture, visual arts, and furniture design. They study spaces and the elements that compose them from very different approaches. On show in Paris, their Kanji stool table inspired by the Chinese pictogram for sky and an inflatable armchair inspired by boats’ buoys. [See opening picture]
Based in Dalsland, Sweden, Alvaro Aramburu works mainly with wood to create furniture and unique handmade objects. At the fair, he presents pieces rich in colours, textures, and light that highlight the designer’s strong commitment to the environment.
Alvaro Aramburu.
Architect Marta Armengol crosses the boundaries between architecture, design, and craftsmanship without forgetting scenography or more artistic installations. Among the designs she presents at Maison & Objet is MY SHAME IN SOFT, a research project about functional everyday objects associated with memory, body, and movement. The pieces are made of natural cotton and linen fabrics and filled with recycled cotton, natural cork, and sheep wool.
Marta Armengol.
Fibres are the natural element of Barcelona-based textile artist and craftsman Josep Safont. The ‘Onion we all are’ ethereal project is constructed with onion skins sewn by machine with cotton thread and challenges the prejudices of labels, particularly of what we consider to be rejection. Why can’t what someone has designated as “rubbish” have a second life and raise its status?
Josep Safont @ Maison Object 2023, Rising Talent ‘Made in Spain’ – All photos by ©AETHION.
