Manu Bañó’s OBJ collection explores simple gestures applied to raw materials

Mexico City-based designer Manu Bañó was born in Valencia, Spain in 1990 as the son of a designer and an artist, allowing him to grow up in a creative and experimental environment. This awakened from an early age his interest in materials, craft techniques and the nature of objects, which has resulted in an impressive collection of furniture and lighting designs.

After studying industrial design with a master’s degree in furniture and lighting and working at Magnus Long Studio in London, he founded his own studio. In 2017, Manu Bañó co-founded EWE Studio alongside Héctor Esrawe and Age Salajoe. His work has been exhibited in design fairs all over the world, such as Design Miami/Basel, Salone Satellite in Milan, Maison&Objet in Paris and Zona Maco in Mexico.

His OBJ collection is based on simple gestures applied to materials in their commercial format. With simple manipulations such as cutting and folding, the raw material is transformed into a utilitarian object. Manu’s way of approaching design is through intuition, drawing simple lines and ideas in his notebooks that result in physical objects. The OBJ series has an aesthetic ambition and puts beauty over function, serving as both furniture items and art objects.

Photography by Alejandro Ramírez Orozco