NoMATERIA 2020 | Balance

When it comes to design’s relationship to identity issues, toys have always been a kind
of workspace offering multiple opportunities. We included a beautiful project for children,
which was conceived in the middle of the pandemic, featuring handmade plush
toys, made by elderly people, with 100% recycled material. This project gathers concrete
gestures of solidarity, adding a layer of social awareness. But, also, we find a constant,
incisive presence of elements of Venezuelan indigenous cultures and traditions, especially
visible in the inclusion of musical instruments and the use of native woods.
We find objects that are themselves an inquiry on materials and processes: luminaires
made from fire retardant and waterproof paper, luminaires, and products using digital
manufacturing technologies such as numerical control processes in wood cutting and
3D printing, pose questions regarding volume and movement.
Home furniture is one of the fortes of Venezuelan design since the middle of the 20th century,
featuring important pioneering figures such as Miguel Arroyo and Cornelis Zitman.
In NoMATERIA 2020, we find straightforward-manufactured luminaires, designed from
the perspective of the single piece, with different narratives. Likewise, we find chairs
either born as homages or as experimental processes with new materials intertwined
with well-known object typologies, and even commissioned artifacts developed by a
designer working in a studio in China.
The same variants in the practice of design can be seen at play in the second half of
this sample. These objects were designed for different scenarios, yet all of them are to
be used in outdoor spaces. These are products focused on entertainment, sports, plant
care, and mobility. We will see large-scale objects as inserted in the dynamics of city
life: recreation, the recognition of local identity, the mechanics of citizen participation,
and the promotion of culture. These objects settle in in the territory, some as mere instruments
of heritage recognition.
NoMATERIA 2020 recognizes the work of Venezuelan designers who use three-dimensionality
to get closer to people. Finally, this is an action aiming at the dissemination of
industrial design that, since 2010, uses both face-to-face and remote work, together with
project teams, designers, institutions and companies, who orbit around this concept
we call design.
Ignacio Urbina Polo, Dis. Ind. MIng
Associate Professor Pratt Institute
Curator of NoMATERIA