Mestiz’s ‘Wood Fauna’ mirrors Mexico’s vibrant wildlife with richly textured objects

Against the insipid aesthetics that have now seeped into every spectrum of our lives – with minimalist indoor objects, pallid walls and bedsheets, and clean restrained templates – a pop of colour or distorted compositions manage to not just add life to pasty settings, but also enrich the experiences of people inhabiting vibrant locales. A style that almost inadvertently comes to mind with the mention of vibrant colours and rich textures is Mexican design. Antiquated yet not overly decorated, rustic yet fit for modern settings, objects and interiors designed following this approach pose an almost perfect balance between ostentation and modernist simplicity. Mexico based design studio Mestiz, founded by Mexican designer Daniel Valero, recently unveiled a collection of wooden furniture touted Wood Fauna that enunciates this aesthetic gallantly.

“We started making our own wild wooden creations inspired by the figures and symbols of Novohispanic baroque,” says Mexican architect and designer Daniel Valero. The studio is known for previously exploring lamp design, homeware design, totem design, and rug design, amongst others. These totems, lamps, plates, spoons, rugs and vases abstract the richness of the Mexican landscape and culture into patterns, colours and textures.

In an attempt to develop veritable designs that evoke not only the visual language of natural and cultural references from Mexico, but also make use of authentic artisanal techniques, Mestiz collaborates with local artisans and craftspersons for all their projects. This unique mix of art, technique and tradition results in what the studio likes to refer to as the “Mestiz language”. Wild, just like the quintessentially Mexican traditions and customs, and the country’s flora and fauna that inspire them, these objects are built to dominate and encapsulate their surroundings with their emphatic presence. A collaboration between designers and technicians helps retain archaic methods and traditions of designing and crafting wares, and hence their cultural heritage.

The studio’s latest foray in the realm of product design employs a similar process, one where elaborate designs are accompanied by traditionally conscious craftsmanship. This zoomorphic wood collection was built in collaboration with Don Javier, a craftsman who was fortuitously found by the Mexican design studio on the streets of San Miguel de Allende during a walk. Javier is an artisan who still practices the dying craft of wood carving and carpentry that were widely followed in Mexico during the 17th and 18th centuries. This distinctive method of shaping and carving wood was used to build altars, benches, statues, and doors, as well as just ancillary elements for Hacienda homes and other Mexican structures.

By using an ancient wood crafting techniques to build the objects for the Wood Fauna collection, the studio manages to keep alive an art that is fading away due to disuse. The wood series includes items such as benches, coffee tables and music instruments, all of which are handmade. Washed in blue, red and green, the pieces, with their scale-like texture, appear like wild creatures stunted into inaction, serving thus as a modern connotation of the animate symbols and elements from 17th century Spanish Baroque. From a distance, the geometric pieces, with their pointy edges jutting out, evoke images of pixelated scenery from 8-bit video games or Minecraft. A perfect fit, both as collectable furniture design pieces and as totemic decorative objects, they serve as conversation starters. Wood Fauna brings the wildness of the woods into interior spaces.