PANORAMMMA ATELIER
"Panorammma seeks to redefine their relation to functional objects through experimentation with materials and forms. Functionality becomes a premise for visual narrations and a medium for conceiving new possibilities of living immersed in an aesthetic proposal"
How did you break into the furniture industry or design field?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director of "PANORAMMMA ATELIER" —
My background is in art so I have always made things, but it was only recently, moving cities that I started designing furniture pieces for my own use.
Are you going to create more works for Panorammma atelier?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director of "PANORAMMMA ATELIER" —
Yes, definitely. I have found that my art practice and design practice feed one another and are creating a chair for example, as I do when conceiving a sculpture. I'am interested in blurring a sometimes artificial line between art and design.
Describe your practice in more detail. What inspired you to create this concept or branding?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director of "PANORAMMMA ATELIER" —
I started panorammma with the intention of it being an open ended project. I am interested in the
project mutating, taking on life of its own by building upon a critical context.
What makes you want to start your design practice / studio, what is it like doing the craftmanship in Mexico?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director / Founder
I became interested in formally starting a studio to explore objects of "use" because I found them interesting in the sense that they competed and challenged the mundane by becoming a hyperbole of it and our behaviors, they were not meants to be parenthesized from the everyday expereince. For me this became a "trojan horse" for artistic expression.
Mexico has for some time been strong incubator of fresh design proposals. It is a country that thrives on its entropic energy nourished by a heritage of cultural syncretism, which marks an ever evolving design scene.
Technically I could not think of a better place for the production of my work. In Mexico I have access to so many unique materials and a great disposition for experimentation from suppliers.
What makes Panorammma atelier different than other, distinct elements that panorammma applied that others don't?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director / Founder
Many of my designs are in a way a continuation of my artistic practice which I consider; a yearning to materialize and decipher my experience asa patient. Time in which I became immersed in the aseptic materials of the clinic, remitting to them now as a tool to guide a reflection on notions of subjectivity.
Panorammma's pieces though might feel foreign and sterile often come from a very personal place which would be impossible to recplicate and which becomes a differentiating factor for us.
Isamu Noguchi's designs are not focused on problem solving or future orientation. His design motivations are those poetics, his intuitive creations. Noguchi's work was presented as ambiguous in relation to time. This position interests me as they exhibit a tension between the archaic past and the technological future, reminding us of our limited persepective of geological time. Similar to Buckminsterfuller, his work encompassed relativistic vision of relationships that make up our microcosm.
Who would be your Icons and muses?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director / Founder
I admire Isamu Noguchi's work, presented as ambiguous in relation to time. This position exhibits traction between the archaic past and the technological future, reminding us of our limited perspective of geological time.
Byung Chul Han's reflections on beauty and the sublime have been important in my practice and a reminder to take distance from trend aesthethics and understand how they have real effects on the collective unconscious.
Other muses include: Lily Reich, Eva Hesse, Tobia Scarpa, Gea Aulenti.
Tell me fashion labels, or designers or artists in general, you would love to collaborate with?
Maika Palazuelos| Creative director / founder
There is an artist called Katie Paterson I'am a great admirer of and with whom I would love to someday collaborate.
Where do you search for inspirations in general?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director/ founder
Panorammma's inspiration centers around exploring past visions of the future and creating myths of memory. Constructing on our past experiences through new visual narratives. For me this means remitting to my direct expereince living through the spaces of malady, which I see as affecting the psychological sphere of society, epitomized by the increasing loss of immediacy and spread of the aseptic perception of the "other"/
I can say so far the energy I intend the designs to emit emulates a tension I an identify in the devotion to material objects here in Mexico. Fethisism in Mexico is deeply rotted in spirituality and religion, but with the fusion of different systems of belief it becomes an idiosyncratic phenomenon.
What would be your idea of environmentally-conscious furnishings based on your POV?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director / Founder
To reuse materials and grant objects a second life I think remains the most environmentally-conscious option, although I am a believer in investing in innovative environmentally-conscious technologies hoping we reach a point where they are not a risk of generating contradicting repercussions.
Do you think that sustainability is crucial for product designer or furniture designers?
Maika Palazulos |Creative director / Founder
I honestly with this was more embedded in my practice. As mentioned I do try to invest in the arena and reuse material whenever I can, but in the end even the most simple of pprocesses like shipping items unfortunately is still not an activity one could call sustainable
Do you think that sustainability is crucial for product designer or furniture designers?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director / Founder
I do think this is crucial for everybody. Responsibility may be higher for designers, especially those who produce mass scale objects.
I like to think the objects I make oppose the incentive for disposable, with the intention that collectible items are reused again and again through generations.
Have your practices changes to keep up with technologies?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director / Founder
I try to constantly research new materials and ideas but think there are so many possibilities within traditional methods as well to produce fresh ideas.
What was the creative process looked like upon producing, and what was the most challenging part of the process?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director/ founder
I bounce ideas back and forth with Renee Espinosa (Panorammma's production Manager) to resolve the production of pieces. She is very involved in the creative process as well and always has interesting insight to put forth.
Since we do experiment a lot with materials and forms a huge challenge is always communication.It is difficult to express a finish to a craft-man for example when we find no exact existing reference to it. It can be a long process but we always learn along the way.
When designing a furniture what is the most important factor for you ?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director / Founder
I look for designs to be propositive, putting forth an idea that breaks with what we expect from furniture traditionally.
What is your hopes for the furniture industry in the coming future?
Maika Palazuelos | Creative director/ founder
I wish we can work in creating a greener industry, and one which's exonomy support s small workshops as they have so much knowledge and virtuosity to offer.
