UNEARTHING: The Alchemy of Mexican Metalwork

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.