Mexican designer Gerardo Osio has created Raíz Noreste, a collection of objects including concrete sandals that combine traditional and modern materials to make a statement about the history of northeast Mexico.
Named Raíz Noreste, which translates as northeast root, the series of designs investigates the native past of what is now considered to be the most Americanised part of the country.
Raíz Noreste is a collection of objects made from traditional and modern materials
Each individual piece in the collection is a reinterpretation of a traditional object, remade to reflect how northeast Mexico transformed from a region populated by native hunter-gatherers to an industrial hub.
"The objects are intervened or 'disrupted' with materials that correspond to today?s industry in the northeastern area." Gerardo Osio told Dezeen. For example, Sedentarismo, which translates as sedentary lifestyle, is a pair of sandals made of ixtle ? a natural fibre commonly used by hunter-gatherers. The sandals are reheeled in concrete.
Sedentarismo is a pair of sandals made from ixtle and concrete
This comparison highlights not only the stark difference in materials used between hunter-gatherers and their modern-day counterparts but also emphasises how agriculture and industrialisation diminished traditional northeastern cultures.
"The disruptions in the objects are the representation of events that changed how people have subsisted in this environment," he continued.
Each ...