"A REFLECTION ABOUT THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN ART & DESIGN"

Mas Creations collections by Masquespacio

Since we started our studio Masquespacio in 2010 we have been working on a wide range of interior & product design projects. Many times, during this process we have been questioning what are the boundaries between Art & Design. Is our work to be considered a 100% design work or could it be pronounced as a mix between both, due to its amount of details, emotions and profound sense, questioning the regular and searching for a specific sense behind each concept?

Are the functional details we need to integrate into our designs for restaurants, making our artistic features in the same interiors defined as a design element although it is purely an artistic feature?

What if our furniture designs like the Alex & Andrea collection are not created with the purpose of being purely a functional pair of seats, but as an artistic element that wants you to make reflect on what is to be considered masculine and feminine material in our gender-friendly world?

With the “Forms & Textures” exhibition we want to start the discussion about the boundaries between Art & Design. Who is responsible to define if an object is considered an artwork or just a design? Is functionality the only reason to justify an object as a design element instead of as an artwork? Or is it the reflection behind the object that makes it an artistic interpretation?

The "Forms & Textures" collection in this sense is presented as a series of individual objects that could be interpreted at first sight as a chair, a lamp or a room divider, although it is unusual and at first sight, uncomfortable forms are making clear that we are not speaking about a functional design object.

The collection created from a line drawn on paper to a 3D printed object thus recreates a series of different forms that could represent a furniture and lighting collection, but although its unusual and unusable forms convert them into an artwork challenging the viewer to reflect on the boundaries between Art & Design.

DESIGN PROCESS

Following our reflection on “The boundaries between Design & Art” we wanted to start the creation process of the collection, changing our way of developing an artwork. Hereby instead of designing the different elements digitally in 3D as we always do; we decided to initiate the creation process through the use of a pencil and paper.

The starting point of the collection thus was just a line drawn on paper, which intensified our reflection about the line that defines if an object is an artwork or a design. In a further stage we started to process the lines in 3D, creating different forms that are standing on their own and at the same time connecting; marked by a partition line that creates a boundary between each form that makes the complete artwork. At the same time using a contrast of different textures, through materials and colours for each form we wanted to represent the boundaries between a design and artwork.

The different designs were developed from a 2D point of view and later converted into a 3D printed object, as part of the process where tradition and technology come together, questioning the use of analogic and digital techniques in design and art.