Furniture by Frida Escobedo and designer Hector Esrawe are among the designs decorating a "magnificent" 1970s house in Mexico City, for the inaugural exhibit from Masa gallery.

Masa was launched this year by Mexico's celebrated designer Hector Esrawe, art curator Cristobal Riestra, curator Age Salajõe and designer Brian Thoreen, along with Roberto Diaz Sesma and Isaac Bissu.

The team ? which have varied backgrounds in architecture, art and design ? wanted to champion the work of Mexico's contemporary design scene, in a new kind of setting.

"We decided to establish Masa as we had an urge to do things differently and not to follow the standard white box gallery formula," co-founder Salajõe told Dezeen. "While doing so, to put Mexican design to a global level." "It blurs the line between art and design and aims not separate one from the other," she added.

Called Collective/Collectible, the gallery's debut exhibit is set inside an abandoned mansion in the city's Lomas neighbourhood, which has been vacant since the 1970s. The house is the first in a series of "magnificent locations" that Masa intends to take over for future exhibitions.

Featuring bold red walls and floors, large windows and grand stairs, the mansion is used as a striking backdrop for works of 16 Mexico City-based designers and architects ? including Esrawe, EWE Studio and Frida Escobedo.

Escobedo's simple, metallic chair is placed in a double-height ...