Fernando Laposse
Designer
Fernando Laposse (1988) is a London-based Mexican designer, he trained in Central Saint Martins as a product designer. Fernando specializes in transforming humble natural materials into refined design pieces. He has worked extensively with overlooked plant fibers such as sisal, loofah, and corn leaves. He often works with indigenous communities in his native Mexico to create local employment opportunities and raise awareness about the challenges they face in a globalized world. His projects are informative and educational addressing topics such as the environmental crisis, the loss of biodiversity, community dissolution, migration, and the negative impacts of global trade in local agriculture and food culture. He does so by documenting the issues and announcing possible resolutions through the transformative power of design. His projects have been exhibited in the Triennale di Milano, Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, The Design Museum in London, Victoria and Albert, the World Economic Forum, and Miami Basel to name a few. His work is held in the permanent collections of the V&A and SF MoMA.
With their endearing shapes and long, shaggy pelts, Fernando Laposse’s designs are like something out of a fairy tale: furniture that one can imagine befriending. Despite their large size, they have an air of vulnerability, as if they were members of a rare endangered species. The pieces only take on their full meaning when you know how they are made. Laposse creates them in a Mexican village called Tonahuixtla, which has been devastated by climate change. The primary material is sisal, the fibre of the agave plant – a type of succulent used in the production of tequila. Laposse has pioneered the innovative use of this material in the region, where he is also organising an extensive planting of agave, with the goal of restoring the community’s economy.
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