Hasta La Ideas

Las Ánimas was one of the standout exhibitors at this year’s Madrid Design Festival. Here, the Seville-based duo present seven designs that reveal their fascination with geometry and symbolism.

Las Ánimas is formed of the artist couple Trini Salamanca and Pablo Párraga, who have been working together since 2014.

The pair like to create objects that incorporate iterative patterns and tribal motifs, with the aim to “make the mind wander, as an altered vision of reality”.

An iconographic approach

“Our visual and emotional universe encompasses such distant references as science fiction, reality distortion, brutalist architecture, cybernetics, techno-industrial music, ancient rites and sacred imagery,” they told Dezeen.

“All of these themes have geometry, iteration, symbolism, codes and repetition at their core foundations.”

Salamanca and Párraga use this iconographic approach to generate both two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms, which they translate into textiles, ceramics, furniture and lighting.

For the sixth edition of Madrid Design Festival, which runs from 14 February to 12 March, Salamanca and Párraga have created two new works.

The hand-carved wooden Trío chair and the highly graphic Túnel rug feature in the exhibition, Seville, Illuminated Shadow, alongside their sculptural Kerus vases and Ibéreica pendant lamp.

“Repetition is like a mantra”

The artists describe their creative process as “some sort of ritual”.

“We put a lot of time into a process of addition and subtraction, where we interact with the material and the tools at a very deep level,” they said.

“Repetition is like a mantra that puts you into an altered state of consciousness. That’s what we aim for with our works.”

Here are seven Las Ánimas projects that encapsulate this approach:

Kerus

Described by Las Ánimas as “functional talismans”, this vase series combines solid resin with traditional mould techniques.

The duotone-style designs come in colour combinations that include vibrant yellow and bubblegum pink, and emerald green and copper orange.

Trío and Túnel 

The two new designs created for Madrid Design Festival have a ceremonial character.

The carved wooden Trío chair is a futuristic throne, designed to reference the rituals of ancestral cultures, while the tufted Túnel carpet was conceived as a map charting “a world of colour and volume”.

Calitra

Calitra is one of several colourful lamps that Las Ánimas has produced by exploiting cubic geometries in epoxy resin.

Light, reflection and transparency give these sculptural pieces a liquid appearance.

Beyond Golden Rainbow

This monumental dining table has a distinctly archaeological feel, reminiscent of ancient architecture.

Constructed from resin, polystyrene, fiberglass and concrete, the table has an uneven texture that belies the smooth feel of its vibrant yellow finish.

Office Game

This collaboration with Spanish furniture brand BD Barcelona Design saw Las Ánimas rework a 1996 collection by Catalan furniture designer Pete Sans.

Monochrome graphics were applied to the wardrobe, table and bedside table of the discontinued Aula Integral System. Magnets are concealed within the surfaces, allowing users to customise the furniture with colourful wooden shapes.

Sincronismo

Las Ánimas created this capsule collection of hand-made tufted rugs for online design gallery Adorno.

The collection includes six designs that reference shapes, images and colours from childhood games, but also have a mystical quality.

Spina

The “nippled” surface of this credenza is a contemporary interpretation of the protruding iron nails that would typically feature on Spanish furniture from the early Gothic period.

The effect was achieved using dyed paper pulp, applied to three connected modules. These volumes sit on 96 columnar legs.

Seville, Illuminated Shadow is on show at Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa as part of Madrid Design Festival 2023, which takes place from 14 February to 12 March. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

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