Design Weekend São Paulo: MADE Pop-Up
A design collective’s clever transgression of function and materials provoke the rethinking of everyday objects
by Jorge Grimberg
Part of many different events comprising Brazil’s second-annual Design Weekend São Paulo, the MADE (Mercado+Arte+Design) pop-up featured an exhibition curated by investment banker-turned-collector Waldick Jatobá. Within MADE were projects of different focuses—including a spotlight on Polish design and an installation by Italians Giorgio and Marco Bonaguro Guazzini, sponsored by Electrolux. But the highlight of the pop-up came from Grupo (in)vasão, a collective of six designers who worked around the theme of “the kitchen.”
At the core of the group’s work is the transgression of function and materials for everyday objects. Grupo (in)vasão’s clever take on the mundane is twofold: the designers used common items to create new common items. “For this collection, we used references from the universe of music and literature, resulting in the [drying rack] that resembles a typewriter and drumsticks that became a fruit bowl,” explained designer Marcelo Stefanovicz.
“Whenever we have a new project or installation, we discuss the idea as a group until the concept is moulded and faceted by all integrants,” said Stefanovics. In addition to the salad bowl, fruit bowl and drying rack, they also presented porcelain plates that pay tribute to the theme. Stefanovicz’s “Fish Plate” echoes the traces of a finished fish dinner while Leo Capote’s “Porcas” plate renders an attractive pattern from the outline shape of a standard hex nut.
Design Weekend São Paulo aims to become an unmissable event among the international design fairs, and the MADE pop-up makes a clear case for why this burgeoning annual exhibition is one to add to the calendar.
Images courtesy of Grupo (in)vasão
