1. ALEJANDRO GARCÍA CONTRERAS ON SERPENTS AND DECODING THE DIVINE

    MATERIA first encountered Alejandro García Contreras' work at Art Week 2021 in México City, where he presented ‘Mechanisms and evidence of genital coevolution: The roles of natural selection, mate choice, and sexual conflict’ (2021). In this piece Alejandro constructs a fantastical environment in which serpents with vaginal mouths stand-off against those that are entirely phallic. Editor-in-chief, Sarah Len, visited Alejandro at his studio in Guadalajara to discuss his creative origins and the journey of decoding the divine.
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  2. AN INVITATION INTO THE TACTILE WORLD OF DISCIPLINA STUDIO

    Disciplina Studio is a México City based multidisciplinary practice channeling free exploration of design with utilitarian purpose. Focusing on ceramics and furniture design, the studio takes advantage of the abundance of cultural and material richness, working with obsidian, low temperature clay, and acids on metal. Their focus on craftsmanship and developing new techniques from common materials leaves room for spontaneity in forms and silhouettes that not only reinvent the creative process but the end result. 
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  3. MUXELANDIA, MARÍA ELENA VALDÉS REVEALS A WORLD OF NON-BINARY RADICAL ACCEPTANCE

    Photography represented freedom. That’s what motivated María Elena Valdés to create Muxelandia, an intimate photo book that reveals the world of the muxe—transgender, indigenous, and Zapotec (or third gender) women who have existed for centuries in the community of Juchitán.
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  4. PANORAMMMA, NEW FURNITURE ATELIER REDEFINING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FUNCTIONAL OBJECTS

    Maika Palazuelos is an artist and designer from the northern city of Monterrey, México. Palazueos is the founder of PANORAMMMA, a new furniture atelier based in México City that seeks to redefine the relationship with functional objects through experimentation with materials and forms.
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  5. A GLIMPSE AT DESIGNER HÉCTOR ESRAWE’S CREATIVE UNIVERSE

    Héctor Esrawe is rightfully revered as México’s ‘renaissance man’. He is at the helm of Esrawe Studio, a multidisciplinary design studio that develops furniture, interior design and architectural solutions for hospitality, cultural and residential projects. MATERIA caught up with Héctor Esrawe at his Roma Norte studio and followed him to the Polanco showroom and Xinú experience to capture just a glimpse of his creative universe.
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  6. TAQUERÍA GABRIEL AND THE ART OF THE RÓTULO

    Taquería Gabriel is a traditional Mexican taquería located in México City’s Cuauhtémoc neighborhood. The branding by Panamá Studio, a multidisciplinary design studio based in México CIty, is focused on modernizing Mexican graphic styles and their traditional characteristics. 
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