tHuisfront 2004

LADF decorated an appartment with Latin American Design during the hot Dutch Design event tHuisfront. The event took place from september 28- october 3, 2004 in appartment project 'Het Funen' in Amsterdam.

LADF invited many Latin American Designers to participate in decorating this very Dutch appartment with Latin products and concepts. Visitors could experience the different approach Latin American Design offers towards filling the space, creating connections between products and its environment and the use of colors.

Here you can download the program booklet (in Dutch - 2,5 Mb PDF, with many pictures on the different activities and products in Thuisfront) to see all details of this intensive design event that shook up the minds of designers and buyers of design.

The appartment decorated by LADF

The result of the LADF approach for decorating the appartment was impressive. The very dutch appartment in Amsterdam (square, very small and practical) was transformed into a colorful exhibition space in which the products of many Latin American designers found their natural habitat.

The Brazilian Campana Brothers Celia Table and Chair centered the room, which was decorated by LA's Marc Favela's art work. Argentinean Caro Iserns's hand made paper lamps spread the light on Mexican Gaston Gonzalez Wire Seat and Cala's Silla DF, also from Mexico. This chair is produced with waste from Mexico City's highway construction material by this collective of young designers.

Another light (a selection of Hip Lamps in different colors from Emiliano Godoy) was shining in the hallway on Gabriel Grajales Tam's fragile wall decorations, for the occasions filled with dutch flowers. The wall was painted bright orange, creating a heavy contrast with all the unfinished construction activities in and around the appartment. Alicia Porcel's Onyx wall lamp attracted its own audience, that was enthousiastic about the crafted details of the transparant stone.

Cala Design from Mexico produced a handy wall ornament which everybody should use in his house. The Deja-cosas (leave stuff) holds your memo's notes, keys and all little things that you easily loose.

The Kitchen was the place to show practical design from Colombia (salt and pepper shakers from Domestic Monters) and different lamps from Mexican Mauricio Lara (La Gallina, Imelda). Another kitchen oriented lamp from Gustavo Perez created the contrast with the tetrapak decorated walls that had a heavy visual impact on the few thousand visitors that came in during the opening hours of the event.

Fakir's kitschy decorated market shopping bags added some Mexican ecclecticism, next to Costa Rica's ceramics from the Chill Out project. Argentinean Leticia Saad's Cococo egg holders fitted in place perfectly, adding more colors to this festival.

The back room showed most of the furniture LADF brought to the appartment. On the walls, Brazilian Carla Tennenbaum's carpets were one of the audience favorites. The design, combined with the positive social impact of the production process and the fact that they are produced from waste, made visitors enthousiastic. Another hit were her new EVA and glass vases, produced with the same technique.

The peaceful hammock from the Galeria Mexicana gave the needed 'zen' contrast next to these colorful products. On the other side of the back room, the ingeniously designed wooden furniture from the South of Argentina (designed and produced by El Catango) also attracted a lot of attention. The lamps next to the furniture and the large hanging lamp on the ceiling, all made from natural materials, by fellow countryperson Luciernaga formed a perfect companionship.

Also in this room, Marc Favela created artwork, now based on historic Tango posters as a applicable setting for the more classic Argentinean designs on the other side of the room, designed and produced by Arte Pampa Diseno. Their meticulously produced furniture, covered by traditional patterns applied on the furniture by a form of Papel Mache (glued paper) is amazing. It fascinated viewers when they come close enough to realize that the patterns are not painted but cut out from paper and glued to the wood. Aspiazu has created the glass tableware with symmetric patterns. Monica Gonzalez from Paraguay delivered an elegant acrylic vase that 'captured' the wind from Paraguay.

Another space that attracted primarely female spectators was the jewelry room. A complete room was transformed into a treasury with construction materials from Sponsor 'Van der Pol'. Alcides Fortes presented his massive necklaces with a story. The very light paper jewelry from Colombia (Edilberto Guerrero) and the colorful handbags from Colombian Ximena Ardila - inspired by birds - brought in the color. The glass balls filled table by Galeria Mexicana provided the entourage in the intimate room.

The bed room was of course filled with a bed. Alexandra Parodi from Uruguay created a cardboard bed which is easy to set up and easy to break down as well. Brazilian Rosa Berger and Mariana Dupas created the Nebulosa lamp, produced with orange packaging, which filled up one complete wall. The Cuban Box T-short of OVO Design decorated the space.

The preparation of the appartment

LADF's Gabriela Bustamante, architect Caro Isern, Yael Borojovich, designer Arno Wolters, Jose Jeroen Nas, Lua Silva and others set up the appartment together. The set up took about 10 days, in which the appartment was tranformed from a construction place to the colorful intimate place you see above.

Location of LADF appartment in tHuisfront 2004

The LADF appartment was close to the 'Amsterdam Islands' in complex 'Het Funen' (see map).