Interested in traditional craft and natural materials, Fernando Laposse practises at the crossroads between contemporary issues and millenary truths. Educated in the United Kingdom at a time when digital technologies were starting to modify product design discourse, his interests in “humble” organic materials, and in the indigenous knowledge developed around them, has led him to approach design with a different, more conscious, lens. Whether working with rural communities in southern Mexico, lecturing at universities or developing new prototypes at his studio, Fernando’s work understands the impact that materiality and design can have in shaping and redefining current planetary dynamics. In this interview, he shares his influences and motivations and speaks about his agency in relation to the negative sides of globalisation.
KOOZ The first line of your bio reads: “Fernando Laposse is a London based Mexican designer trained in Central Saint Martins as a product designer.” How have these three worlds—in between Central Saint Martins, London and Mexico—shaped your work and approach to design?
FERNANDO LAPOSSE I started my studies in product design at Central Saint Martins in 2007, around the same time when the iPhone came out and schools as CSM were geared towards shaping a set of designers to be qualified to design for such smart technology and the upcoming digital world. Nonetheless, from a very young age, I had always been a lot more interested in natural materials and the long tradition of craft embedded within Mexican culture. The fact that I did not own a European passport or Visa meant I would eventually have to go back to Mexico. This led me to detach myself from industrial processes common throughout Europe, North America and Asia. Thus, living in London, and having learnt a methodology to approach the design process, I started looking for ways to bring materials from Mexico to the UK and explore Mexican materiality beyond the traditional clichés.
I had always been a lot more interested in natural materials and the long tradition of craft embedded within Mexican culture.
During my bachelor's, I had the opportunity to undertake two very significant internships, with Bethan Laura Wood and Faye Toogood. As two very strong women with clear aesthetics and philosophy, Bethan and Faye showed me what it meant to be a designer with a personal discourse and distinct style. I have always appreciated the exchanges of knowledge which occur through the model of mentor and apprentice. For example, as a student, Bethan learnt her marqueteries technique from Martino Gamper and then she passed them onto me. A very London-based model that I am now replicating in my work with corn in my studio in Mexico.
KOOZ Critical research on materials and their historical and cultural ties play a fundamental role in your practice. Could you tell us a bit more about your interest in“humble materials and overlooked fibers” and the role research plays in your works?
FL I am interested in the concept of the territory as exemplified by the French term “terroir” in relation to wine and food—how local geographic phenomena determine the flavour of these. I am keen in applying this approach to design and particularly to materials. In a world where everything is becoming digital, where materials are shipped and traded globally, locality is becoming more and more important.
I am drawn to study these humble materials and transform them into unique functional objects without losing their identity and locality.
In the case of Mexico this is very apparent. Mexico is not a place of steel, not a place of plastic, not a place of wood but a place for plant fibres, for weaving, for terracotta and clay, it is a very earth material place. I am drawn to study these humble materials, which could be found in one’s backyard, and transform them into unique functional objects without losing their identity and locality. I believe this requires one to flex their design muscles. Where is the challenge in starting off with a slab of marble—which is already perceived as a high-quality material—and to pop in a pair of legs to have a beautiful table?
KOOZ Your projects are also educational and informative. They address important matters such as our climate crisis and the loss in biodiversity. How do you confront and explore the power of design beyond mere aesthetics?
FL All my projects are grounded in critical research. I am extremely fascinated by history and, coming from a colonised country and looking at the effects of colonisation in places like the Americas, I am specifically interested in the history of the trade of materials. One can almost always trace back colonisation to a material and view these as the engines behind colonisation processes. Through my works, I seek to dig deeper into the circumstances which lead to specific problems and conditions of inequality. This is particularly evident within projects such as Totomoxtle—deeply tied to past economic policies which had devastating effects on local communities and landscapes.
One can almost always trace back colonisation to a material and view these as the engines behind colonisation processes.
I am interested in diversifying discourses around sustainability and our environmental crisis. This was indeed the source of a big frustration in London where everything is about waste, about plastic and where phenomena like erosion, indigenous rights, and the loss of biodiversity are not sexy enough to be used as marketing pitches. Through my work, I seek to push these agendas further and look at our environmental crisis not as a natural catastrophe but rather as a human and humanitarian crisis of inequality. I feel it is my role as a Latin-American designer to push these concepts forward.
Through my work, I seek to look at our environmental crisis not as a natural catastrophe but rather as a human and humanitarian crisis of inequality.
KOOZ Totomoxtle, “a veneer made with husks of heirloom Mexican corn”, allows you to work closely with indigenous communities in Mexico. You seek to create local employment opportunities and raise awareness about the challenges these communities face in a globalised world. How important is this part of your practice? Could you tell us a bit more about Totomoxtle?
FL I first visited the village of Tonahuixtlaat a time when Mexico wanted to install a permanent ban on GMO’s. Whilst this gave rise to a lot of political action, no economic suggestion was made on how one was going to protect the native corn. I knew we had to provide some sort of economic revenue to protect the heirloom varieties, so that idea made me develop the veneer during that specific residency.
Nonetheless, the story and project became so much deeper when I went to the village. I realised how badly devastated the land and community were because of the 1994 corn trade agreement, which had turned the corn market upside down. Because of this free trade agreement, the price of corn dropped by ⅔, forcing farmers to rely on the use of chemicals and fertilisers to produce the same amount of crops as they did before in order to sustain themselves. This resulted in both the end of the traditional permaculture system as well as a devastating erosion, which made the land unusable. Ultimately, this made it impossible for these communities to feed themselves and so they had to mass migrate to the US.
KOOZ Your works have been exhibited in important international group shows in museums such as the Triennale di Milano, the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Vitra Design Museum and many others. What is the potential of showing your work within these cultural institutions and sharing it with the larger public?
FL I think museums are excellent platforms to present the research behind the work and initiate much needed conversations. Beyond these spaces, I am also very much interested in using the medium of film documentation as a means of sharing un-edited and un-filtered truths as well as giving a voice to those who need to be heard.
For me it’s extremely important to be able to draw attention to important planetary dynamics and share the microphone with those who are never heard.
In this sense, a big benchmark for the practice was when I was invited to the World Economic Forum back in 2020. I presented the economic model behind my work, the engagement with local communities and discussed the potential for art and design to transform spaces. Although I work with indigenous communities, I did not want to appropriate their voice and story and thus made it a point that both Delfina Martinez (leader of indigenous assembly in the town) and Nicolas Reyes(workshop manager) had to join me in Switzerland at the capitalist playground. Caught in between state leaders as Donald Trump, major industrialists, and incredible activists as Greta Thunberg, our presence there revealed the power of design to enable such a crossover of individuals who would never ever be seated at the same table.
Whether within the space of a museum or at a forum, for me it’s extremely important to be able to draw attention to important planetary dynamics and share the microphone with those who are never heard. The indigenous communities of the world are by far the least represented. They find themselves at a double disadvantage as they are both ethnically and racially discriminated, but on top of that, they have a totally incompatible lifestyle with today’s globalised word of excess—they are the first ones to suffer from the negative sides of globalisation while always being excluded from their advantages. These communities do not appear in pop culture, not in fashion, not in music. They are completely invisible until we want to start an ethical sustainable brand and we almost use them like trophies to promote our ventures. Part of the project is giving them the visibility they deserve.
I believe that the basis of it all is our educational system, which is what pushes me to continuously give lectures within universities.
KOOZ What current research projects are you undertaking? How do you seek to develop your practice further in-between your role as a designer and as an activist?
FL I believe that the basis of it all is our educational system, which is what pushes me to continuously give lectures within universities. It is indeed ridiculous how we are taught sustainability as young designers and hope that my experience and outlook might help the younger generations.
A project which we are continuing to undertake, and which serves as a very successful model, is our community led agave project, through which we are tackling problems of erosion. Since 2015, we have been using agaves and indigenous assembly to reforest the area and enhance water and soil retention. After eight years working, we have successfully planted over 100,000 agaves covering an area of 180 hectares, thus increasing by 30% the water level of existing wells. This has in turn resulted in the massive decrease in plagues which were affecting the crops and the establishment of new (insect eating) bat colonies in a virtuous cycle of circularity. To date, the project is financed through the selling of the design pieces.
Going forward, I am interested in engaging in the policy making process to ensure more equitable and just legislation.
With the ambition of scaling the project up, so that it does notneed to rely on one design practice, we started looking into other avenues of funding. It was soon apparent that none of these exist except for carbon neutralising credits, whereby one obtains funds based on being a certified carbon neutralising project. It was surprising how, despite the numerous applications, we always seemed to hit a brick wall as the only plants which can be certified for these credits are trees that grow in certain areas—like the forests of Europe, North America, and the Amazon—rather than deserted plants. This process opened much more interesting questions around the ingrained racism which exists in environmental policies. What about these climate refugees? Going forward, I am interested in engaging in the policy making process to ensure more equitable and just legislation.
Bio
Fernando Laposse is a Mexican designer with a degree in product design from Central St. Martins. His practice is material driven and focuses on transforming humble natural fibers such as corn husks, sisal, or loofah into design pieces and new architectural materials. For Fernando, the material source and cultural context is of extreme importance. This has led him to forge a long standing collaboration with Tonahuixtla, a community of Mixtec farmers in the south of Mexico. Rather than working with existing craft, Fernando develops new techniques from scratch which are then taught to members of the community. This in turn creates new sources of employment that revitalise traditional agriculture. Fernando’s projects also strive to communicate the complexity of issues like the loss of biodiversity, erosion, indigenous rights, migration and the negative impacts of global trade on local agriculture. He does so by documenting the problems and announcing possible resolutions through the transformative power of craft and design.
Federica Zambeletti is the founder and managing director of KoozArch. She is an architect, researcher and digital curator whose interests lie at the intersection between art, architecture and regenerative practices. In 2015 Federica founded KoozArch with the ambition of creating a space where to research, explore and discuss architecture beyond the limits of its built form. Parallel to her work at KoozArch, Federica is Architect at the architecture studio UNA and researcher at the non-profit agency for change UNLESS where she is project manager of the research "Antarctic Resolution". Federica is an Architectural Association School of Architecture in London alumni.
