Manu Bañó, co-founder of the design studio EWE and Associate at Esrawe Studio in México City, designed his first solo series of objects at home, inspired by everyday materials that were within reach. This improvised approach comes through in the elegant simplicity of OBJ-01, a series of lamps, and an object that needs no explanation. At a glance, it reveals its material, its manufacturing process, its function and its use.
OBJ-01 is made of a single raw metal and comes in three materials: steel, stainless steel or brass, selecting sheets that are less scratched in order to polish the material the least possible, preserving its original industrial look. Cut by laser and assembled by hand with a rubber hammer and no welding joinery, Manu established a self-production limited series of 10 to 20 at a time. Each lamp is accompanied by one of three poems written by Guillermo Crespo Galiana, a young Valencian poet who was inspired by the light, the material, textures, nature, and origins of the world. “I love to think that these poems can be displayed near the lamp, so there are always two ways of interpreting it.”
Pure geometric figures build the lighting fixture; a rectangle, a circle and a cylinder at the back which contains the LED light spot. The circle, when cut out, adopts the function of a screen and can rotate 360 degrees to direct the light at will.
OBJ-01 marks a personal exploration where Manu Bañó recovers conversations with himself and checks in on where he is and who he is in this season of his life.
OBJ-01 PRODUCTION PROCESS, COURTESY OF THE ARTIST.
