Hasta La Ideas

Here on Core, we’ve dedicated a fair amount of space to wood as a material in the context of furniture and product design: our ten-part series on wood species, lumber processing and movement ain’t going out of style any time soon. Brazilian artist Henrique Oliveira offers a very different approach to the versatile material, which he salvages and repurposes in the form of ligneous large-scale installations. Most recently, he’s worked something up for the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade in São Paulo called “Transarquitetônica.” This type of plywood is used on “fancy construction sites” (as described by the designer) to hide unsightly hardhat areas.

His work is a little bit Alice in Wonderland with a few decor notes from The Hobbit—devoid of visitors, it would make for a great mid-day stroll the shake the workday off a bit. This video, by Crane.tv, offers a closer look at “Transarquitetônica,” including Oliveira elaborating on the making of the piece: “When I broke this piece [of wood], it was like a brush stroke for me.”

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