Designer of the Day: Fernando Mastrangelo

Here, we ask a designer to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their lives.

Age: 38

Occupation: Artist and furniture designer

Hometown: Rio de Janeiro (I wish)

Studio location: Brooklyn

Describe what you make: I make objects that are symbols of what’s most beautiful to me in nature, and that simultaneously make statements about the devastating state of affairs surrounding climate today.

The most important thing you’ve designed to date: A studio that doesn’t require a gallery to support it.

The problem your work solves: The problem of taste. [My work’s] language feels familiar, like it has always existed. You can connect with it immediately. This allows for a pure experience of an object, without being influenced by its history, its résumé, its pedigree, its social influence, or its whatever. It can be judged purely on its beauty, and that’s powerful for a work of art. We’ve also noticed that our clients really enjoy the direct-to-consumer approach we’ve created at the studio. We believe this fits into the model of how the art and design market will function in the future.

What you are working on now: A collaboration with two of my closest friends. It involves a short movie, photography, sculpture, and furniture. It also involves coal.

A new or forthcoming project we should know about: The Reverence Collection, an 18-month collaboration with Edward Fields. It features 12 custom rugs, which were handmade through [the carpet company] Tai Ping. It is launching on October third and is a real highlight for me.

What you absolutely have to have in your studio: A sense of family.

What you do when you’re not working: I think about work, ha ha. I think about architecture, family, and goals. But when I’m really trying to disconnect, I’ll usually travel somewhere that has inspiring landscapes to exist within or drive through.

Sources of creative envy: Matthew Barney, Nick van Woert, and Richard Serra.

The distraction you want to eliminate: The middleman.

Concrete or marble? Concrete.

High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.

Aliens or ghosts? Ghosts.

Remember or forget? Forget.

Dark or light? Light.