Objetos-crônica

A wrist band for a Timex.

I rarely wear watches, but have wanted to introduce one back into my life to experiment with my relationship to time. I had bought a cheap Timex back in college, after a recommendation from Ben. Late November, I wore it to lunch with Rafa at Paulinho's and lamented the rather bland leather wrist strap that come with the watch. I wondered about using some leftover webbing from a previous project. The next morning, I saw that the width was perfect. An hour later I had it ready. →

A spoon keychain,
with San Cristóbal.

Leo runs Casa das Três Meninas, a third-generation hardware store in my neighborhood, Santa Cecilia. As an artist, he does a lot of work with welded household items, but what caught my attention was his keychain. I stopped by a kitchen supplies store and bought a spoon to make my own. After using it for a few days, the object suggested itself as a kind of altar. I'm not religious, but remembered that my namesake is the patron saint of travel. My mom suggested going to Rua Barão de Paranapiacaba, a whole block that just sells silver jewelery, to find a pendant. Earlier in the year, Luca had showed my some nail-polished Durepoxi sculptures he had made. I combined both, and spent several hours learning how to manipulate acetone and nail polish. →

Parentesi, versão Gambiarra.

I was shown Achille Castiglioni's Parentesi lamp last year by XY. I don't recall why, but one evening I wondered if I could reproduce its locking mechanism using IRWIN QUICK-GRIPs. I jerry-rigged a version, hung the webbing from my shower's aluminum structure, used a leftover brick as a counterweight. A mug was needed to counterbalance the offset of two clamps to one. The next day I went to the hardware store to make a slightly more elaborate version to have as a bedside lamp. To hang it from my ceiling, I used a tie knot on an attrociously installed hook. Since picking up outdoor climbing, I learned that this simple mechanism is the basis for all climbing hardware, including the ATC belay device I use to secure others, or rapel myeslf down hundreds of feet of rock. →

A hanging bar of soap

At the home my grandfather built in zona sur of Rosario, there's a magnetized soap holder fixed under the bathroom mirror. He would hammer a bottle cap into the soap to stick it into place. At Sam Chermayeff's home, he hung his soap from the ceiling using some thin rope; much less ergonomic. Merging the two, I came up with this more industrial version to keep the soap dry and accessible. →

Bookshelf and tile kitchen.

After moving, I needed to buy kitchen furnishings. Having visited Sam Chermayeff's home the previous year, I was curious to play with the idea of a deconstructed kitchen. The pretext was that if I kept it light and portable, then it'd be easier to move elsewhere when my lease was over. These metalic bookshelves are extremely common and cheap to acquire. Walking along Av. São João, I saw a red enamled version and bought it. I decided to chop it in half to expand the surface area and allow light to filter in. I then paid homage to Chermayeff's tile table that we had at the Reduct office in San Francisco. →

Flavin and Brancusi lamp.

This was the first object I made for my new apartment. I wanted a light source beyond the gare built-in ceiling lights, and so I thought of a lamp designs I could cobble together from what I had at hand. I had bought a bunch of "tijolo baianos" (bricks) to play around sculpturally with, and just stuck a tube into the corner. It reminded my of a Flavin sculpture and Brancusi's Bird in Space. →

Hippo bench and bedframe.

I've been making furniture in Enzo Mari's autoprogettazione tradition of simple lumber for several years now. I find the constraints powerful both for their accessibility and expressiveness, and often doodle new permutations when I'm bored in class. Having seen some of Lina Bo Bardi's benches and some indigenous furniture that mimicked animals, I came up with a design that inclined the seats inwards and left a bit of room below the horizontal boards, which reminded me of a Hippo. I was also inspired by the versatility of use of the "banco dos bichos" at FAU-USP, which functions between bench, bed, and table, often all at the same time. Later on, I turned the design into a bedframe for guests. →

PIBESP 001.

PIBESP is the Programa de Instalação de Bancos no Estado de São Paulo. Continuing the work I had done with Convivial Forms in NYC, we made a benches for the plaza in front of Artacho Jurado's Edificio Viadutos in São Paulo. It was built together with Rafa and Luca, mostly as an experiment in working together for the first time. The design is again reminiscent of Enzo Mari, with simple mechanisms for producing the surprisingly ergonomic 5 and 12 degree inclines for seat and backrest. We decided to use a pair of stakes that would be driven into the dirt to secure the bench in place. The color was chosen based on the paint we had at hand. I was hesitant at first, but have since realized it is perfect. →

PIBESP 002.

Luca said "I'd rather have 1000 current PIBESPs than a single one with a perfect design." For our second PIBESP, we doubled our efforts, per the ancient game of rice. In an effort to reuse our existing design, we found some tree planters that accomodated the "stakes" and suggested a "virtual plaza" that could be called into existence with some well placed benches. Around a dozen friends showed up to my apartment for a day of hard work. Installation was much harder this time, and we even used some candle wax to cover some holes needed to fix the bench to the concrete. There's a great demand and reward for work that isn't labor. →