An itinerant platform that puts young designers in the spotlight, Alcova has boosted all recent editions of the Milan Furniture Fair. Now, for the very first time, the event is crossing the Atlantic to take part in Design Miami/, another design mecca. Acumen presents its four favorites.
Lucas Muñoz Muñoz
Highlighting local craftsmanship and materials, contributing knowledge ex situ, while taking into account consumption, pollution and the context with its social and cultural implications. This, in a nutshell, is the creative formula of Spanish designer Lucas Muñoz Muñoz. It's a formula this Madrid-born designer has imported to Alcova by creating a collection of five pieces from locally found scraps, such as laser-cut metal and kitchen marble. A lamp, a chair and a sofa make up the ensemble, complemented by a sound system, the designer's signature piece.
Panorammma
Based in Mexico City, Panorammma is a furniture design laboratory whose intention is to redefine our relationship with functional objects. How do we do this? Through bold experimentation with materials and forms. For the first edition of Alcova Miami, the studio presented its Chainmail Camping Stool, which fuses the utilitarian with the artistic. The woven chainmail lends an unexpected elegance to this folding chair, a sturdy piece of furniture typical of the outdoor world. For the occasion, it was presented in a set evoking a very alternative version of the camping scene, with a floor covered in dark material, embellished with tufts of grass here and there, and a mirror acting as a pond.
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AnanasAnanas is a culinary art studio founded by Verónica González and Elena Petrossian. Both design edible installations, culinary experiences accompanied by experimental tableware that encourage their audience to interact with food in a multi-sensory way. Their approach is more political than it seems, as demonstrated by their installation for Alcova Miami, denouncing the quantities of water wasted by agri-food production. Tangerines were placed on rotating stainless steel containers. These were placed in a pool, symbolizing the 66,000 liters of water needed to produce over 1,000 mandarins. The studio's way of underlining the importance of eating seasonally, and supporting local, sustainable farming systems.
Studio HAOS
Founded in 2017 by Sophie Gelinet and Cédric Gepner, Studio HAOS has one aim: to define a form of elegance and emotion through deliberately limited means. Originally from Paris, the two designers are now based in Lisbon, where they experiment with modest materials. In Miami, the duo presented Room for Reverie, a space filled with elements, objects and other traces of an imaginary resident. A set of precisely positioned pieces that suggest a presence, yet remain invisible. Open to visitors, this room was an invitation to curiosity, to slip into the life of another.
