La Tejida
Our chair La Tejida is an homage to Mexican handmade weaved fabrics as such artisanal products are of an unrivaled artistry and beauty but struggle to gain the recognition they deserve. The aim of the project is to offer a blank canvass to its users by proposing a minimalistic iron structure of easy fabrication serving as a frame on which the weavers can exhibit the marvels their hands can work producing a unique and original product each time.
The characteristics of hand made products are exceptionally fascinating to us as they can establish a mute dialogue between product and user and most importantly they highlight the beauty of imperfection acknowledging its validity.
La Tejida springs form this principle of unicity combining contemporary aesthetics with traditional crafted products resulting in a highly flexible design which adapts to any context without losing its essence.
La Tejida is a light-weight, low-cost and easy to assemble iron frame which can be personalized by completing it with any kind of fabric giving the user the freedom to express themselves through the design reinventing its unicity each and every time.
The idea behind the design research for La Tejida stems for the intuition of combining the originality of craftsmanship with affordable designs in order to create a customizable piece of furniture which can be made readily available to everyone. The frame was assembled using six distinct iron bars with a diameter of 1,25 cm which were then bended and soldered into place. The fabric is folded and sewed at its ends and slips between two iron bars. A cylindrical piece of wood is then positioned within the fabric’s folds holding it steadily together.
The main creative challenge faced within the development of the project was to reinvent a new aesthetic language for an every-day object without losing its relation to its social, economic and historical context.
The design of the iron frame had to be simple enough for any blacksmith in the country to make so to avoid high costs in the fabrication process while maintaining an immediately identifiable appearance. The assemblage details had to be simple but efficient and aesthetically pleasing.
These challenges were overcome while developing the research in regards to materials and machinery availability as well as working alongside members of the local community such as the artist Mariana Ortega, who’s contribution was of essential importance for the final outcome.
