Five emerging Mexican designers and studios to watch
Following this year's Design Week Mexico, Dezeen's US editor Dan Howarth has picked five designers and studios from the country who he is tipping for international success.
ITZ
ITZ comprises a group of master carpenters from the tropical forests of Bacalar, southeast Mexico, who use local hardwoods to craft furniture.
The company was awarded the Design Week Mexico 2016 Award for its Ocum collection of wooden side tables, shown as part of the Inédito exhibition at Museo Tamayo.
"We are confident that the prize will help us further circulate our work and to improve our studio and production techniques," said ITZ.
Monica Calderon
Calderon presented a collection of resin pieces at Inedito, ranging from furniture with gradients of opacity to vases with patterned bases.
Her work was also on show in one of the shipping containers at the Design Contents exhibition in Mexico City's Polanco district, and is still for sale at a dedicated showroom in the same area.
Based in Guadalajara, Peca was set up in 2007 by Caterina Moretti and Ana Saldañan. The duo uses materials typical of Mexican architecture and design, like volcanic stone, to craft simple geometric homeware and tableware.
Shelves and cubby holes, and a range of half-polished plates are among the products the studio has created using lava stone.
Peca also recently launched a set of marble candle holders that can be split to create two objects, which it showed with its full collection at design store Blend during the design week.
Christoph Zeller and Ingrid Moye worked at architecture practices including SANAA and Herzog & de Meuron before setting up their own interdisciplinary studio, which has completed installations, interiors and architecture projects since 2014.
For this year's Design Week Mexico, the studio created a 1:350 scale model of the Popocatépetl volcano near Mexico City. The Popo installation was made from building blocks with mirrored metal sides and assembled on a terrace at Museo Tamayo.
Find out more about Zeller & Moye ›
Spilt between Mexico City and Valencia, LaSelva focuses on furniture and homeware that takes influences from both places.
The studio's products include a series of concrete accessories – vases, plates, candle holders, trays – for Más, a sofa for Missana with one cushioned arm replaced with a tray, and a range of patterned hexagonal tiles.