Dezeen Magazine

Fernando Mastrangelo casts Fade furniture from dyed cement

New York 2016: Brooklyn artist Fernando Mastrangelo has used cement to create a range of furniture with subtle patterns and pastel colours (+ slideshow).

On show at the Sight Unseen Offsite exhibition, which opens today in Manhattan's Grace Building, the Fade series forms part of Mastrangelo's MMaterial collection of sculptural furniture.

The Fade series of sculptural furniture by Mastrangelo's MMaterial collection shown at New York Design Week

It includes a desk and a series of drum-shaped stools, all created using the same production technique.

Mastrangelo casts the pieces from cement, which is hand-dyed with pigments in various pastel shades. He mixes the powdery substance with water to form mortar, rather than adding the traditional aggregates to bind it together into concrete.

The Fade series of sculptural furniture by Mastrangelo's MMaterial collection shown at New York Design Week

"The pieces are strictly made with cement, which is a material I've been exploring for a while, but I really got a chance to push the subtly and beauty of what cement can do," Mastrangelo told Dezeen.

"Without the aggregate, I can really explore the line quality of the cement pours," he added. "Layer by layer I can shift from tone to tone without having to blend in any aggregate."

The Fade series of sculptural furniture by Mastrangelo's MMaterial collection shown at New York Design Week

To create the cylindrical stools, the material is poured into a fibreglass mould in layers that are left to dry before the next is added on top.

These layers have deeper colours at the base and become incrementally lighter towards the top, or create a pastel rainbow. To finish, the pieces are sanded to a polished finish and sealed.

The Fade series of sculptural furniture by Mastrangelo's MMaterial collection shown at New York Design Week

The desk features similar striations that run lengthways along its surface and down the two solid legs, while a series of wall hangings also feature similar patterns.

"The effect I wanted to achieve with the series was to transform what some might think of as a rugged, industrial material into a soft, sensual one that evokes a peaceful and almost serene sensibility," said Mastrangelo.

The artist often experiments with materials and texture in his work. At New York's Collective Design fair earlier this month, he presented a collection of furniture pieces created by mixing sand, powdered glass, mirror and cement.

The Fade series of sculptural furniture by Mastrangelo's MMaterial collection shown at New York Design Week

This year's Sight Unseen Offsite takes place on the 15th floor of the Grace Building, 1114 Avenue of the Americas, from 13 to 16 May 2016.

The annual showcase of emerging design talent is curated by Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer, who run online magazine Sight Unseen.

The Fade series of sculptural furniture by Mastrangelo's MMaterial collection shown at New York Design Week

Highlights from the 2015 edition included blackened steel furniture, ombre wallpaper and tinted-glass tables.

Sight Unseen Offsite forms part of the wider NYCxDesign event, running citywide from 3 to 17 May 2016. It is one of Dezeen's top picks of exhibitions around New York during the festival, along with a showcase of Norway's established and up-and-coming talent and Lee Broom's first shop in the city.