UNEARTHING: The Alchemy of Mexican Metalwork is presented for the first time and features all new work by three Mexico-city-based studios - Manu Bañó, Héctor Esrawe and their collective design practice EWE Studio founded with Age Salajõe - working individually and in concert, to dive into the rich history of Mexico through the lens of landscape, territory, materials and process, with a focus on objects crafted in metal.
UNEARTHING is an homage to the metallurgy traditions of Mexico. The new body of work - featuring lighting, furniture and sculptural pieces - surveys the layers and evolution of Mexican craft through metalwork and considers the act of digging into the country’s cultural and material roots, revealing the hidden or forgotten techniques, traditions, and stories embedded in metals and the landscape itself. Just as archaeologists unearth artifacts to understand a culture, the studios have mined and minted their medium; from steel and iron to copper, brass and bronze, while demonstrating a profound respect for the integrity of materials and the land from which they are unearthed and shaped.
The result is an alchemical transformation; with age-old techniques reinterpreted to create contemporary design pieces. The exhibition presents the works as a landscape of metals - bronze, copper, brass and steel - as a compelling tableau set against a pristine white wall which highlights the raw, elemental beauty of the materials. Visitors are immersed in a sensorial experience, featuring a soundscape; a sonic record of workmanship and tools, and the evocative scent of copal - a nod to Mexican culture and a tribute to the ‘oud’ traditions of Arabic cultures. A process wall, covered with images and sketches offers a glimpse into the creative journey behind the designs, while a documentary video showcases the production process in cinematic style - an ode to hands and earth.
Exhibition Details: ‘Unearthing - The Alchemy of Mexican Metalwork’, EWE Studio, Héctor Esrawe, Manu Bañó.
Public Opening Days: November 13th - December 12th, 2024
Gallery COLLECTIONAL, Eden House, Jumeirah Garden City, 41st St – Al Satwa – Dubai
Ewe Studio
Estela is a lighting sculpture inspired by Mexican stelae, large single-stone monoliths used for the recording of history. Standing solemnly, the lamp emits a soft light that reveals the raw surfaces of its metallic interior. This elegant standing lamp, with simple forms, is crafted using the lost-wax technique and then cast in bronze by expert hands in Mexico City.
Hector Esrawe
The Frecuencia Chairs are built from a single silhouette and intention, they introduce subtle variations in height and length, providing both structure and a sense of rhythm. These continuous bent steel bars vibrate along its length and polished surfaces, creating a visual effect that the piece is fading. Through repetition, the bars define the chairs’ form and evoke the idea of an endless functional vibration.
Hector Esrawe
The Gear Desk is constructed out of cast polished bronze with patina finish. The honeycomb-shaped cardboard grid is the source of inspiration, when cut into irregular shapes it reveals aleatory vertical patterns along the edges, creating a sculptural expression. These patterns, materialized and contained in bronze with radial cuts, take on different formats and scales, defining objects with utilitarian functions, such as coffee tables, light sculptures, and now The Desk, all expressed as over-scaled jewels or geared ornaments.
Hector Esrawe
The Gear Side Table is constructed out of cast aluminum with an aged finish and cast polished bronze with a patina finish. The honeycomb-shaped cardboard grid is the source of inspiration, when cut into irregular shapes it reveals aleatory vertical patterns along the edges, creating a sculptural expression. These patterns, materialized and contained in bronze with radial cuts, take on different formats and scales, defining objects with utilitarian functions, such as coffee table, light sculptures, and now The Side Table, all expressed as over-scaled jewels or geared ornaments.
Hector Esrawe
The Gear Side Table is constructed out of cast aluminum with an aged finish and cast polished bronze with a patina finish. The honeycomb-shaped cardboard grid is the source of inspiration, when cut into irregular shapes it reveals aleatory vertical patterns along the edges, creating a sculptural expression. These patterns, materialized and contained in bronze with radial cuts, take on different formats and scales, defining objects with utilitarian functions, such as coffee table, light sculptures, and now The Side Table, all expressed as over-scaled jewels or geared ornaments.
Manu Bañó
Tempered by fire, copper abandons its two-dimensional form to occupy a three-dimensional space through human manipulation. Its surface reflects the material’s journey, the piece retains the marks of its production process. The table, with concentric hammering, creates a support surface that, when duplicated on its underside, shapes the base. The separation between the two sheets not only aims to display books but also, in an aesthetic and deliberate act, reveals the two sides as distinct, detached, symmetrical, and identical.
Manu Bañó
This series explores the reflective property of copper, which, when polished, generates a mirror surface. With the purpose of being sculptural pieces, they occupy the space that would normally be taken by a painting on a wall. Copper, tempered by fire, abandons its two-dimensional form to occupy a three-dimensional space through human manipulation. In its finish, the marks of the material’s production process are evident, without patinas or polish.
Manu Bañó
Two suspended copper sheets, parallel to each other, are hammered to create openings at their top and bottom, allowing light to be projected both upward and downward. The design strikes a balance between indirect light which illuminates the ceiling and a focal light which projects onto the table, with both light sources independently controllable. The exterior of the lamp is patinated in a dark graphite shade, while the interior shows the natural, warm color of copper, offering a visual contrast that enhances its presence in the space.
Manu Bañó
The design of OBJ-10 originates in the doors, two symmetrical rectangles that, when hammered in their central area, deform to create an opening: a slit that invites you to slide your hand and discover its interior. The cabinet is a mono-material piece of copper, both on the outside and inside. The external surface retains the raw finish of the copper, allowing the marks of the production process, the heat of the fire, and the artisan’s fingerprints to express themselves. In contrast, the mirror-polished interior reveals a glint of copper in its purest state.
Ewe Studio
The Táas cabinet draws inspiration from traditional metalwork in Mesoamerica. The piece is made up of openings and stepped geometries which reveal and conceal both form and content, offering a balance between the pristine and raw. Comprised of sculptural forms, the cabinet is shaped with curves of patinated brass. The piece embodies the transition between the solid and void, open and closed, light and shadow, concrete and imaginary.
Ewe Studio
The Táas desk is constructed out of patinated brass, with its curvatures offering a blend of the enigmatic and functional. Inspired by architectural steppes and collumns from Mesoamerican constructions, the piece’s geometry is made up of folded metal surfaces. In a direct allusion to the act of piercing or cutting, the metal sheets have been transformed into a sculptural entity that links traditional metallurgy practices to a contemporary design expression.