Japanese furniture and saddle bags influence Vidivixi's furniture collection
Designs in Mexico City studio Vidivixi's debut furniture collection include a bed cradled by cotton-covered rolls, and a bronze glass table with a base of interlocking, blackened wood tubes.
Vidivixi – named after the Latin phrase vidi vixi, which translates to "I saw, I've lived" – launched the collection in September 2018. It comprises five pieces, including a bed, a cabinet and three tables in circular forms and a variety of materials like stained oak, leather and bronze glass.
A standout piece is the bed called Docked en Rio. Rounded modules covered in cotton are placed around a walnut frame, to create rolled detailing at the headboard and the foot.
The mattress slots into this base, which then folds underneath each end – a feature that the studio said draws on "traditional Japanese furniture".
Similar tube shapes are found in the support of the square coffee table, aptly named Café Con Leche. It comprises eight U-shaped oak forms – two on each side – that interlock to bolster the structure. The wood is stained black with a matte finish.
Café Con Leche's round-edged top is made of bronze glass, matching that of the circular Vivien's Table in the series. This dining table is also set on eight blackened-oak legs, although these are more chunky and vertical.
"The legs are paired and create linear negative space rotating around the elliptic apron that follows the contour of the tabletop," said Vidivixi in a description on its website.
The third table in the set is semi-circular, and features a black lacquered underbelly cradled by a "hammock-like" strip of cowhide. The leather detail is reminiscent of the strap that secures a saddle bag to a horse or donkey, and gives the piece its name Packsaddle Side Table.
Half-circle dark walnut and black lacquered doors are placed on each side of the table, with bronze handles between the two materials. A bronze-coloured glass shelf can be found inside.
Vidivixi's gridded Collector's Cabinet is a departure from the circular and rounded shapes in the rest of the collection.
Open shelves are placed in the blackened steel frame, while blackened-oak drawers slot into the bottom and are lined with pink suede.
Other materials include black marble, used to weigh the structure down, and bronze-tinted glass at the edges.
Vidivixi is led by British studio manager Adam Caplowe and American designer Mark Grattan.
Grattan founded Vidivixi in New York in 2014, and met Caplowe when he moved to Mexico City in 2016 to produce work free from financial stresses.
"Mexico allows you time to develop and focus," Grattan told Dezeen. "However easily distracting it can be, it really allows the design process and development to take its course without pressure of success or rent."
Another studio that transplanted to the Mexican capital belongs to Austrian-Mexican designer David Pompa.
Established in 2013, after Pompa graduated from product design at Kingston University in London, it produces furniture, accessories and tiles, along with lighting, and recently revamped its showroom in the city.