Beyond the cultural reference that the Day of the Dead means – a pre-Hispanic tradition to honor the dead on November 2nd in Mexico-, the “Dulce Muerte” (Sweet Death) sugar bowl reminds us of the fact that Mexico has the first place on child obesity and the second on adult obesity worldwide. This version of the sugar bowl is a special edition, re-issued for Cielito Querido Cafe. A piece that tries to get a smile out of you, but also wants you to think for a while when you sweeten your life –or your death.
Posted on October 16, 2015
During the closing activities from the second edition of the Mexican Design Open, held on November 18th, 2014 at the Simon Bolivar Amphitheatre inside Colegio de San Ildefonso facilities, Ariel Rojo, founding partner of the Open, had the honor of representing the festival at the ceremony held for the worldwide launch of the first report on Creative Economics, written in Spanish by UNESCO, as well as the application made so Mexico City could be part of the UNESCO Creative Cities network.
Posted on October 16, 2015
During the 2014 edition of the London Design Festival, through the Marion Friedman Gallery, part of the Brompton Design District, Ariel Rojo presented the Red Lightbulb Mat at the Instituto Cervantes (Cervantes Institute), a piece that represents an aerial view of Mexico City during nighttime. Each light that turns on within the mat represents the birth of an idea in Mexico City, a metropolis that has 25 million inhabitants.
Posted on October 16, 2015
For the first time ever, the Museum of Arts and Design of New York presents a collective exhibition devoted to contemporary design in Latin America. From November 4th, 2014, until April 5th, 2015, works from designers, artists, artisans and art groups that respect the change and innovation that result from the collaboration between different disciplines originated from every place within Latin America were shown.
Posted on October 16, 2015
Parques de Bolsillo (Pocket Parks) is a program initiated by the Government of Mexico City and managed by the Public Spaces Authority of the aforementioned entity- that offers its inhabitants places for social interaction, identity and economic improvement, in response to a request from the Decisiones por Colonia (Neighborhood Decisions) program.
The current administration has inaugurated the model park at the Plaza de la Constitucion square, as well as the one located at the center of Coyoacan. The Public Pocket Parks project plans to intervene –restore and renovate- about 150 spaces that nowadays are considered vacant lots and empty urban spaces (such as plots, vacant lots, urban intersections and disused streets), smaller than 400 sq. meters, located within the 16 territories the city is divided into.
On this project there are joint efforts from the following government agencies: Urban Development and Livelihood, Transportation and Road Administration, Health, and Environment.
Posted on October 15, 2015
Led by Carlos Marin, architect, and by professor Jose Muñoz, the ARDS took part on the efforts made by a multidisciplinary team formed by urban development and environment specialists, as well as architects, to submit their work onto the Rescate Integral de la Merced contest, initiated by the SEDECO—Secretariat of Economic Development in Mexico City. On this first process, we collaborated with the urban development proposal. This collaboration obtained first place on the contest.
Posted on October 14, 2015
10, 100, 1000 is an initiative coming from both La Metropolitana and designer Francisco Torres, who invited ten Mexican designers in order to develop furniture pieces. The main goal of this project was to generate a collection of representative pieces of the new Mexican design current, pieces that are accessible for the general public. Inspired on some pieces commonly found of Mexican haciendas (estates), this piece plays on a visual level with woven wood that forms a solid, robust shape, in spite of it being hollow and made mostly out of scraps. Featured designers: Ariel Rojo, Cecilia León de la Barra, Christian Vivanco, Ediciones Jalapa, Jorge Diego Etienne, La Metropolitana, Moisés Hernández, Oscar Núñez, Priscila Tierno, Sebastián Ocampo.
This collection was nominated as Best of the Year 2015 by the London Design Museum.
Posted on October 01, 2015