French Artist Coco Brun and Mexican Design Lab Sten Studio Present "Echoes of Mexico"
The architecture and sculpture of ancient Mexico inspire the two stone vase collections. It highlights the lapidary heritage happening at that time, which is still current as one main activity of craftmanship in Mexico. Red travertine, white Venetian marble, black Orizaba marble, and pink, green, and pineapple onyxes were selected for the vessels due to their indigenous use and origin in the center of Mexico, where many of these ancient civilizations were located. This collaboration is thanks to the efforts of Galería Territorio, led by Andrea Cesarma, to work as a platform to connect foreign artists and designers to Mexican studios to co-create all together.
More than just a collaboration, this partnership is manifested through two distinct series, each drawing inspiration from Mexico. One series features geometric and minimalist forms, while the other embodies curves an intricate details.
Abstracted Ancestry:
Inspired by the embedded shapes that compose the masks of Mayan dignitaries, particularly the large Mayan earrings, also known as "earlets" or "pendeloques," this series showcases vases with an oval body, highlighting curves and complex shapes. The unique texture of each stone, with its typical veins and chromatic variations, offers a formal ambiguity that requires the skill of a sculptor to achieve pieces where these characteristics unfold elegantly. Each piece is meticulously handcrafted and accentuated by two straight fins, each pierced with a hole reminiscent of the typical earrings of Mayan masks. Beyond their aesthetic value, this detail refers to the profound significance of earrings in Mayan culture, symbolizing unity, continuity, and spiritual connection.
Místicos:
The inspiration for these pieces draws deeply from the ancient and characteristic architectural forms of the pyramids of Mexico. The connections between the stones evoke the inclined slopes and flattened peaks typical of this emblematic architecture. Each part is meticulously handcrafted, reflecting unique production standards and distinct artisanal craftsmanship with custom finishes. Marble, a metamorphic and organic rock, offers a somewhat opaque texture, while onyx offers subtle transparency. Thus, each product is unique due to its natural diversity.
About Coco Brun:
Coco Brun is a multidisciplinary and nomadic French artist who explores a diverse range of artistic media, from installations and sculptures to textiles and paintings. Her work reflects an ongoing exploration, with each creation demonstrating a distinct dialogue between the materials used and the cultural and natural influences that surround them. Guided by an interest in craft and influenced by Mexican stone architecture and objects, Coco Brun exploits the intrinsic characteristics of the material, such as its Mexican identity, superior quality and durability, to highlight its aesthetic aspects. Her creative process aims to preserve the authenticity of the material while shaping it with references to shapes and geometry rooted in the Mexican cultural imagination.
Nestled at the seat of one of the world’s richest stone deposits Sten Studio is a world within a world. Based in Mexico City, Sten Studio is a design laboratory which tackles the beauty and mystery of natural phenomena through the use of stones and crystals in contemporary furniture and bespoke decorative objects. Exploring any and everything formed by natural processes, the lab embraces minerals as both medium and muse.
Driven by the power of collaboration, the studio works both local and abroad to source some of the most complex and diverse mineral structures known to our natural world. From there, each phase of the design is a shared process across artists, suppliers, fabricators, and manufacturers to develop our ideas in form and concept.
Territorio is a gallery and publishing house of objects by designers, craftsmen, and artists focusing on functional art made in Mexico by masterminds and hands. Created and backed by C Cúbica Arquitectos, each edition of limited pieces aims to situate the object at the center of the conversation between art and design. Building bridges through creative processes is at the heart of Territorio, making space along the way for collaboration between international designers and artists with Mexican production studios and artisans, thus becoming a catalyst for rich cross-pollination in creativity and know-how.
The result is a series of original pieces that capture the essence of these architectural elements to create unique works. This quest for exceptional craftsmanship, in collaboration with Sten Studio, involves an ongoing creative dialogue with nature, becoming second nature to the French artist.