Foundations / Fundamentos
Developed between 2012 and 2014 as the material outcome of the Bastardism Master’s thesis at Design Academy Eindhoven, the FOUNDATIONS collection is a seminal body of work that deconstructs the origins of our artificial world. The design team approached this research by identifying six fundamental pillars—Environment, Social, Animal, Mobility, Cultural, and Commodity—re-materializing each through objects that challenge contemporary industrial logic. By speculating on the "first" versions of our daily tools, the studio created a series of "domestic totems" that bridge the gap between primitive necessity and radical design.
The Six Pillars of the Collection:
Environment Foundation (Concrete Air): A 400kg "living stone" made of porous concrete with 500 internal caves. Using two opposing ventilators to create pressure differentials, the studio designed this piece to naturally cool, humidify, and scrub the air, mimicking the cooling properties of a mountain labyrinth.
Social Foundation (Human Nest): This anthropomorphic chair looks back at the human lap as the proto-seat. By using reclaimed wood to create a nest-like figure, the team appeals to the emotional memory of being held, defining the social origin of furniture as a gesture of care rather than a technical product.
Animal Foundation (High Fidelity Goat): A speaker system utilizing real goat skin as a resonance chamber. The studio explores "fidelity" not as technical wave precision, but as a literal translation of how animals naturally amplify sound through body resonance, creating a tactile and visual experience of audio.
Mobility Foundation (Rock & Roll): A slate stone skateboard that questions the origin of transport. The team proposes that mobility is simply the ground moving under our feet; by setting an ancient, immobile rock into motion, the studio achieves a state of "materialized surrealism."
Cultural Foundation (Technical Totem): This sculptural lamp uses the "inner guts" of construction—technical materials like industrial tubes and cables—to create cultural value. It highlights the Janus-faced nature of materiality: the same components used for hidden infrastructure can be elevated to a domestic totem.
Commodity Foundation (The First Chair): Speculating that the first chair was likely a rock or a log, the studio adds legs and rocking blades to raw stones. This simple intervention transforms an innocent geological entity into a self-declared piece of furniture, marking the birth of the commodity.
Technically, the collection is a masterclass in "pro-cycling" and material honesty. Each piece avoids superficial styling to focus on the raw properties of concrete, stone, skin, and reclaimed wood. As a foundational project, it established the studio’s signature methodology: using design as a tool for "spatial archaeology" to reveal the hidden narratives within the materials that surround us.