Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 27
Occupation: Architect and artist.
Instagram: @_blobb and @sofiahellyes
Hometown: Mexico City.
Studio location: Roma Norte, Mexico City.
Describe what you make: Various ludic outputs blur the lines between functional objects, sculptural works of art, and architectural investigations into materials and scale, resulting in a sensory experience with playfulness as the goal. I called the rings “miniature sculpture for the body” since I don’t use molds and each one is handmade, but I started working on bigger things now and it’s no longer miniature.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Playing to Play—a playground that invites all ages to come play and form community. The playscapes I designed are meant to also look like sculptural works of art, where you’re invited to see the piece or give it whichever use you want.
Describe the problem your work solves: Learning to use different materials, but mostly wanting to shift and work with recycled plastic.
Describe the project you are working on now: The Pofi chairs I designed are meant to hug you when you’re sitting in them. If you fall, they fall, and if you stand they stand back with you. It’s a chair that has many ways to play with it, and its function is that it really doesn’t have a function. Soft chairs come from the idea of soft sculptures. Larger-scale sculptures, objects, and a series of drawings that look like quinceanera cakes, but with architectural ornaments—adding columns and friezes for the cakes to have support.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: The playground I designed was commissioned by the city of Mexico and is set to be built in 2022. I don’t have more details to share right now but it’s really important to me because my first love has always been architecture, and the fascination of how kids think and act. It’ll be very interesting to see the outcome of these sculptural play elements and the reaction of the people playing on them.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Snacks forever.
What you do when you’re not working: I’m mostly drawing or looking at books.
Sources of creative envy: Kids. The way they think and solve things blows my mind.
The distraction you want to eliminate: More sleep and more self-care!
Concrete or marble? Marble
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Light.
