Young design proposals that stood out in 2022

Every year, we make a brief presentation of the profiles, practices, and projects that we saw during the year and that we want to highlight in terms of the design practice.

We share with you five different proposals for different areas that we suggest you follow closely.

Daniel Orozco, Tulum 

Designer wich labor includes curatorship, spaces intervention, interior design, and accessory and furniture design. among his current projects, we found the rooftop and restaurant Hunab y Motto by Hilton, where his most recent collection is present. We are talking about Original, a 20-piece series where he explores other outputs that move away from the ordinary in terms of formality. And instead, he investigates the sculptural and the possibilities that wood can offer and how noble this material is to apply a wide variety of finishes. Although the studio already has several years of experience, we would like to highlight its continuous search to reinvent its practice.

What excites me the most is the mix of materials and the result that you can find by mixing them…. on regards to furniture design, what´s most important is to think about the place you are thinking for the piece and in what environment.

Daniel Orozco

When asked: what are the challenges of dedicating yourself to design in the context and region where you are found? Daniel emphasizes that it is important to always create new things out of the ordinary. “Always change the shape or form  without losing its utility value.”Especially in Tulum, which is where his studio resides, try to change the proposal that everyone has.

Brera Studio, Mexico City

It’s a multidisciplinary studio of architecture, interior design, and product design founded by Andrea Aude and Maria Fernanda González. They launched their first collection at “Terra” in the summer of 2021, where two pieces within the collection were later exhibited as part of Zona MACO’s 2022 Emerging Design edition. And they are currently participating in Inédito 2022.

At Brera Studio our philosophy is the Humanization of Design. In other words, beyond the piece or product that ends up on the market, we like to emphasize that it is the result of the creativity, effort, and skills of many people: our goal is not only to offer an aesthetic and quality product to the final customer but to add value to all the people with whom we interact.

Brera Studio

What characterizes Brera Studio as a design studio are its rugs and carpeted mirrors. When they design a new piece or collection, their focus is not only on the aesthetic and functional part but also in terms of experience, for example, when they designed the Samalayuca rug, they decided to include an additional tactile experience: to give a 3D effect to the uneven shaving of the mat so that when resting on it, you would feel those same irregularities that one feels when resting on the sand.

The carpet design is much more laborious than anyone could imagine. As a raw material, they use virgin wool and its preparation from separating it, stretching,and  preparing it to thread and dyeing. The price of the pieces goes from 5 thousand pesos per mirror and could go as high as 150 thousand pesos for rugs for extra large areas.

Mestiz, San Miguel de Allende

Daniel Valero is the designer and founder of Misticismo, a design studio that contemplates craft techniques and local materials.

At the moment there is a sample of his work in AGO projects with pieces produced in four regions of the country. The textiles in collaboration with the artisans Rubén and Hector Tamayo in Saltillo, Coahuila; the wicker by Salvador Mejia in Tequisquiapan, Querétaro; the ceramic by Jesús Torres in Dolores, Hidalgo, Guanajuato; and now, with the workshop in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, wooden carved furniture was produced in San Miguel de Allende and its surroundings next to Carlos and Luis Antonio Pérez. Wood carving in collaboration with Javier Férnandez.

Although his proposal has already been known nationally and internationally for a few years, we highlight his formal and sculptural proposal where the use of a vast color palette and handling of materials predominates with which he experiments from dyeing wicker or new treatments with textiles. A mastery also by the artisans with whom he collaborates to materialize his proposals.

Cincoxcinco, Guatemala

It is a multidisciplinary collective made up of 5 young Guatemalan creatives who started in 2019. Together they imagine design and manufacture pieces of utilitarian design, with nuances of art-object and under limited editions. During the pandemic, they realized that there was no local design proposal for homes, so they chose to focus on creatives and collectors for the young public.

The collection that they present in Inédito, “The Sum of Small Parts”, was conceptualized during the pandemic in Guatemala City. The lamp, for example, uses hanging charms made from Chinautla clay, which is a type of traditional clay, worked and fired by small communities that live isolated from industrial production. The collective has small pieces that often function as a complement to the central collection, in a range of 100-500 USD. As for the main pieces of the collection, the prices are in the range of 3,000-10,000 USD because they are limited edition objects, handmade and customizable to a certain extent.

Our process incorporates the artisan in the creative process in an integral way, through a two-way conversation. They, as experts in techniques and materials, show us their limits and real possibilities… while we, as designers, contribute with new perspectives and possible applications.

cincoxcinco

The collection had the direct collaboration of more than 30 Guatemalans: from the Armet firm, which is one of the largest companies specializing in the production of massive metal furniture, to independent artisans who work outside the formal industry. This means that the studio works under a hybrid logic that seeks the industrial and the artisan.

Chela y Lucha, Mexico City

They are dedicated to the design, production, and marketing of accessories based on leather waste from the mass industry. Under the “slow fashion” ethic, they create unique pieces or small quantities. For them, it is important that within their manufacturing process, they reuse their own remnant, in order to become a sustainable company and try to generate as little waste as possible.

We strongly believe that the current design must be attached to environmental issues.

Chela y Lucha

Given that it is a young brand and they are in the process of growth, there is a social impact behind it in terms of generating jobs for women in vulnerable situations. Regarding its environmental and production impact, the collection of raw material is achieved in waste banks, then it is transferred to its workshop, where it is classified by textures, colors, and sizes.

Thanks to this method they have created their own identity as a brand, being easily identified by its very particular aesthetic compared to what is usually offered on the market with this type of accessories. Regarding production, all its pieces are unique and unrepeatable thanks to the way the raw material is obtained. They are handmade and use traditional techniques. The pieces go from $1,350 to $2,500 Mexican pesos. They are also part of the current INÉDITO 2022 exhibition.

Manufactura, Mexico City

Manufactura Studio is dedicated to technological innovation, mainly materials. With almost a year of its foundation, they have dedicated to digital manufacturing from local, circular recycled materials such as ceramics that could be recycled. Its work is based on the manufacturer’s intervention in architectural spaces and the area of research, construction and exploration. Its main focus is to generate new objects to make intervention possible in said spaces.

His main support is within the academy, collaborations with IBERO, La Salle, Anahuac, and even MIT. Given its focus on research, it becomes an exchange; an educational field for a research project. The added value of Manufactura is the recycled material they use, which adds value to each work, and of course, to the environment.

“If it doesn’t work, give it a new life cycle or have that chance to not become waste”

Dinorah Martínez, fundadora de Manufactura

The next steps for Manufactura consist of filtering their message and making it much more straightforward to have the reach they expect, especially in the field of furniture and construction, where new methods and innovation are essential for these industries.