Mexican designer Liliana Ovalle has designed a sofa based on the improvised furniture of the homeless in Mexico City.

Called Mugrosita, the chair consists of a metal frame with wooden slats, to which beanbags and blankets can be knotted.

It is the newest piece from her Mugroso Series (shown below) and was presented at Design Miami last year.

Here's some more information from Liliana Ovalle:

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Mugrosita, a chair

I would like to share with you my latest project, a chair called Mugrosita, which was presented at Design Miami this month, as part of the exhibition "Call Out to the Americas: Latin America!", organized by Design Miami. This was the first exhibition presented as a result of an ongoing research on the design scene in the american continent.

This project is a continuation of the Mugroso Series, which started with Mugroso Couch when it was presented  in 2006 in the Royal College of Art degree show. The Mugroso Series are based on a photographic research where I explored  the hectic historical centre of  Mexico City,  portraying scenarios of  improvisation and poverty  where people find the way of putting bits and rubbish together in order to compose functional everyday objects. The objects grow in what appears random and sometimes absurd compositions, following no planning or safety concerns. The results are beautiful collages of bright plastic colors and filthy bits of different materials, each one connected differently. The couch explored the aesthetics and logic of this “system”, translated into a an abstraction of dirt, mess, and improvisation.

The armchair uses the same system developed for Mugroso Couch, where basic structures and random elements are held together with bean bags and ropes, using the knot as a connecting system. The object grows in an intuitive way, sometimes questioning a logical order, just as they naturally appear in the urban landscapes of Mexico City. In this version a new element is added: a metallic grid, an object widely used by street vendors to display their merchandise, accompanied with  tangled bags, old tape and more.

About Call Out to the Americas: Latin America!

Design Miami is conducting a research project to catalog the many talented designers originating from or working in the Western Hemisphere. Our first call for portfolios went out at the end of last summer and will be followed by studio visits and further investigation over the coming year. This exhibition is our first presentation of this research, representing a focused selection of work from Latin America. Combining established masters with promising newcomers, Latin America! demonstrates the rich diversity, quality and design thinking found throughout this side of the Atlantic.

Participating designers:
Tanya Aguiñiga/ Pedro Barrail/ Fernando and Humberto Campana/ Sebastian Errazuriz/ Estudio Manus/ Hugo Franca/  Pedro Friedeberg/ Hechizoo/ Liliana Ovalle/ Courtney Smith/ Joaquim Tenreiro

About Liliana Ovalle:

Liliana Ovalle (Mexico City 1977)
Product and furniture designer based in London and Mexico. Before entering the Royal College of Art (London 2004-2006), she ran Salon de T, where she developed a series of products, lighting and furniture.

Her work has been featured in different International publications (Furnish, by Die Gestalten Verlag, 2007, Domus, Elle Deco UK, Interni) and selected for design exhibitions in different countries (British Council, Milan; Paul Smith Space, Tokio; Changing Dimensions, London; Over Design Over, Perugia). In 2006 she was given the Talent Award by the British Council. One of her projects, Table Stripping, is now produced Milan-based Plusdesign Gallery.

About Mugrosita:
2009
Metal structure, walnut and mixed fabrics
90 x 88x 50 cms
Self-production

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Dezeenwire: at Design Miami next month, products from Dutch design brand Droog will be presented in a specially-designed house by Japanese architects Atelier Bow Wow. See press release below.

Droog Townhouse to be presented at Design Miami

Droog will present its first house at Design Miami. Commissioned by Amsterdam housing association Ymere and designed by Tokyo-based Atelier Bow Wow, an understated façade conceals an extraordinary interior furnished with Droog products. Imagined for a single, a contemporary family or as a VIP guesthouse, the one-of-a-kind layout is essentially a seamless flow of spaces, each with its own functionality merging with circulation space. Private rooms such as the master and optional guest bed, the bath, the balcony and a sound-proof refuse are amply separated by shared space, creating a unique combination of contact and independence, spaciousness and intimacy.

Eminent Droog products will animate an unassuming interior of light wooden floors and white walls. The house will feature the classic 1991 Ragchair and Milk bottle lamp by Tejo Remy, the Heat wave radiator by Joris Laarman and the Tile kitchen by Arnout Visser, Erik Jan Kwakkel, and Peter van der Jagt. The 180 square meter interior along with aspects of its layout can be customized.

Design Miami
December 1st – 5th

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At Design Miami next month, Dutch designer Lotty Lindeman will present a collection of suitcases that can be combined for use as a cabinet in the home.

Called Tassenkast, the collection will be exhibited by Priveekollektie of Heusden aan de Maas in the Netherlands.

The cases are made of padded fabric, wrapped around two wooden side panels. They can be hung from a wooden bar using fabric straps with fastenings that match those on the bags.

More suitcases that can be combined to make furniture: Suited Case by Erik De Nijs.

Here's some more information from Lindeman:

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Interiors nowadays are presented like stills, but in fact there is a lot of mobility of objects, moving around by human needs.

Tassenkast blends traveling storage with furniture. A collection of suitcases get a status as a cupboard in the interior.

Tassenkast plays on the edge of what we perceive as a fashion item and what we perceive as an interior product.

From the 1st till the 5th of December 2009 Priveekollektie will join Design Miami for the second time. During this renowned show the gallery will present new work of Lotty Lindeman, among others.

Lotty Lindeman (1980) graduated Cum Laude at Design Academy Eindhoven, The Netherlands three years ago and received several prizes. Since her graduation her designs have been in the spotlights. During Design Miami her latest handmade limited edition called ‘Tassenkast’ will be internationally launched exclusively by Priveekollektie Contemporary Art Design.

With ‘Tassenkast’ Lindeman crosses the line between fashion item and furniture. This limited design installation, consisting of several handmade suitcases and bags, is multifunctional: the design concept as a whole functions as a cabinet at home, and each piece individually can actually be used as an exclusive handbag or suitcase. This unique concept is therefore practical in daily use or while travelling, but at the same time playful and fashionable when used as a furniture piece. Priveekollektie will present two different limited versions of ‘Tassenkast’ at Design Miami, booth #3.

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Dutch designer Maarten Baas has been named Design Miami/ Designer of the Year, and will present a new body of commissioned work at the fair in Miami this December.

Baas is the fifth designer to receive the award, following the Campana Brothers last year, Tokujin Yoshioka in 2007, Marc Newson in 2006 and Zaha Hadid in 2005.

These photos show Baas and business partner Bas den Herder working on designs for the show, watched closely by Design Miami/ director Ambra Medda (below).

More Dezeen stories about Maarten Baas:

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The Chankley Bore for Established & Sons
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New work at Milan 2008
Wind
Maarten Baas at Carpenters Workshop Gallery (movie)
Smoke
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Maarten Baas in Milan 2007

Here's more info from Design Miami/:

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Design Miami/ presents Designer of the Year Award to Maarten Baas

Design Miami/, the pre-eminent international fair for limited edition design, is proud to present Dutch designer Maarten Baas as this year’s winner of the Designer of the Year Award. New work, commissioned for the award, along with a retrospective of Baas’s work, will be presented at the December edition of Design Miami/.

Each December, the prestigious Award is presented to a designer who has made a significant contribution to the progression of design. The Designer of the Year must demonstrate a long history of consistent work, as well as outstanding work created within the last twelve months. Now in its fifth year, the Award has gone to an impressive list of esteemed designers, including Zaha Hadid, Marc Newson, Tokujin Yoshioka and the Campana Brothers.

At only 31 years of age, Maarten Baas is a strikingly young designer who has impacted the world of design in an unprecented short period of time. “The decision to give the award to someone as young as Baas might seem controversial, but he has already changed the course of design history,” Design Miami/ Associate Director Wava Carpenter comments. “His work has transformed the way collectors understand the landscape of contemporary design and has opened the market to a younger generation of designers. Baas pioneered the way with his first collection Smoke, his graduation project which became an international design sensation through his collaboration with New York gallerist Murray Moss.”

Design Miami/ Director Ambra Medda adds. “He has allowed more people to accept and respect young design. But he is also a truly phenomenal talent who has all the qualities of a great designer and whose work is consistently strong and varied. He has a great sense of imagination and trusts himself to explore his ideas to the maximum, constantly evolving while anchoring his work in a craft-oriented approach. He has kept the design community gripped, like a good movie where you can’t take your eyes off the screen, where each project is like one excellent scene after another.”

With this award, Design Miami/ is recognizing the unique vision embodied in Baas’s work, in which concepts and forms evolve organically through the special world in which the pieces are created. Baas’s studio is located on a remote farm in Holland, which is populated and worked by an interesting cast of characters – a talented and diverse community, with each member contributing to the final products. Surrounded by peacocks, cows, discarded car parts, architectural remnants, and any number of cast off commercial goods, the team work together to fulfil Baas’s vision, seriously experimenting with materials and taking inspiration from their rich surroundings. Baas demonstrates again and again his extraordinary capacity to generate radically new ideas, constantly rethinking and reinventing design processes to mesmerising effect.

In keeping with Design Miami/ tradition, Baas will be creating an installation at this year’s fair. Instead of offering a straightforward overview of his work, Baas has decided to design a theatrical environment where his past work will be mingled with other items from his mental travels, from items found in the street, to product samples, to other designers’ work. The overall atmosphere takes inspiration from “Cabinets of Curiosities”, Dutch rooms which display the collections of Grand Tour travellers from the past who brought back objects of interest, such as geological formations, ancient coins, statuary and other fascinating discoveries. “The objects are often presented in mysterious ways, where it’s not entirely clear what they are or what they mean,” Baas comments. “I think this is a fitting approach to looking at my work.” In addition to inanimate objects, Baas will also include live actors in the installation.

Baas’ installation will also show for the first time examples from an entirely new series of work, created expressly for the Design Miami/ Designer of the Year Award. This new collection will include a series of cabinets fabricated in metal, with irregular shapes of steel welded together to form a shell surrounding a rich and refined interior. Like Baas’s previous work, the new cabinets will give an animated impression, “like abstract monsters behaving like cabinets” explains Medda. In addition, Baas will launch a new addition to his Real Time project, which has been created for the Zuiderzee Museum.

About Maarten Baas

Maarten Baas was born in 1978 and grew up in the Netherlands, where he studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven. Already while studying, one of his projects, a candle holder called Knuckle, was taken into production. He made design headlines with one of his 2002 graduation projects, a series of charred furniture called Smoke, which was subsequently further developed in collaboration with New York gallerist Murray Moss. Iconic and controversial creations within this series include a charred 1934 Steinway grand piano created for Murray Moss, and the charring of an entire suite of antique furniture from the Groninger Museum’s permanent collection for its exhibition ‘Nocturnal Emissions’.

In 2005 he began collaborating with Bas den Herder who is now responsible for the production of all his works. All of Baas’s items are uniquely hand made by Baas and his team of ten assistants.

Baas focuses on creating one new project a year, each time exploring new ideas and media. Highlights include his Hey, chair, be a bookshelf! collection, in which he combined discarded furniture elements into complex structures with entirely new purposes; his Clay Furniture series, in which each piece is modelled by hand from synthetic clay; or his Sculpt collection in which items of furniture are based on quick sketches which are then enlarged and literally translated into finished pieces on a monumental scale.

“I only do things if I think they can make sense,” Baas explains of his approach. “I always want to know how I can take things one step further.”

A signature approach of his is to experiment with a wide variety of materials, applying new techniques that haven’t been tried before, such as his Plastic Chair in Wood series, which evolved out of a collaboration with Contrasts Gallery in Shanghai, in which Baas was commissioned to work with traditional Chinese producers. The Plastic Chair in Wood is in fact hand-carved out of wood, while taking the form of a factory mass-produced plastic chair. His Real Time project, launched this year, involved creating 12 hours worth of high definition film; “it was a really difficult technical challenge,” Baas comments, “since I had no background in film and had to work out how to present so much material in a way that could work on a Bluray player.”

Baas refuses to be categorised; “I don’t really want to give things a name, explanation or description.” He says. “Categories are not relevant as far as I’m concerned. I make what I want to make.” Equally he takes the same approach when he looks at other designers’ work. “I don’t need to know the why or how – it’s important to be simply able to look at a work and see that it’s good on its own terms.”

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Designer of the Year appeared first on Dezeen.