CLÁSICOS MEXICANOS is a Mexican brand specialized in collectible design from 20th Century Mexico.
CLÁSICOS MEXICANOS
CLÁSICOS MEXICANOS opened its doors in 2018. More than a design brand, Clásicos Mexicanos is an ongoing search for a collection that tells a larger story about architecture and design which patiently and painstakingly we continue to grow, always with an eye on the present.
Our aim at Clásicos Mexicanos is to revisit the Mexican 20th Century through objects, to make the past palpable, and to progressively assemble a tentative history of Mexican design through the pieces that we retrieve, develop and produce.
With the help of our teams, we research the archives, develop the pieces that are selected for our collection, in collaboration with their authors or estates, and make them available to our expanding public of design lovers and collectors. Our is as much a work of production as it is a work of love for the histories of architecture and design.
oUR wORLD
At Clásicos Mexicanos we have made it our mission to explore this world of interiors, of objects and furniture, and to carefully extract from that world those pieces that tell an important part of a larger history: lamps, rugs, chairs, desks, tapestries, and even door handles can tell an important story if one is attentive enough to even the smallest of details.
We consider that each work of art has an original moment and one or several afterlives. A key aspect of our project is to provide the right conditions for these designs to live now, to be seen anew, and to act in our present as traces of a larger history of forms and of functional design.
For us to produce these objects today is as much a form of recognition of these great actors, their creations, and their stories, as it is about the present and how these objects have endured time.
Exhibition at Clásicos Mexicanos’ first location at Tres Picos in Polanco, Mexico City
Amalia Hernández’ Mexican School of Folkloric Ballet, designed by Architect Agustín Hernández
Blueprint of Armando Franco’s SL4 COFRAN Chair
Clásicos Mexicanos is defined by a passion for detail and quality, by a desire to demonstrate that throughout the 20th Century, Mexico was at the heart of a global discourse in architecture and design, and by a concern to represent the spirit in which these pieces were originally conceived.
oUR COLLECTION
Our collection is a tentative history of design and interior architecture of 20th Century Mexico, and is born out of our belief that these objects reach into the past, offering a connection to a multiplicity of places and buildings, many of which no longer exist, bringing into focus a world of stories and people, from the designers and architects themselves, to their families and estates; from makers to professionals in the architecture and design fields, and of course, including you, our fellow lovers of form and supporters of our search.
Every year we endeavor to add a few new objects that may surprise our community of design lovers and collectors. Every object we add takes our story in unexpected directions, testing and expanding our conception of what Mexican design is now and has been about.
We are devoted to telling a larger story, and this devotion is also a commitment to time and patience, to the painstaking process of discovering exquisite pieces that have endured time. Rather than focusing on the uniqueness of Mexico, our endeavor is to bring into focus the multiple exchanges that have taken place over a century, exchanges that are aesthetic as well as intellectual and that express the multiplicity of people, foreigners as well as locals, that have contributed to this larger picture.
We consider every name to be essential to our project, from the most renowned ones to those that have been somewhat obscured by time. Patiently and deliberately, we seek out a combination of iconic and eccentric things, objects that have not necessarily circulated widely in the main narratives of Mexican design and architecture, but which merit close attention.
The MEZQUITIC Chair, designed by Roberto Eibenschutz in 1965
OUR PROCESS, MATERIALS AND MÉTIER
Hours of research into the literature and archives of 20th Century Mexican design and architecture, as well as collective discussions, conversations with key figures, and unexpected encounters, are all distilled into each decision we make, each addition to our carefully constructed catalogue.
Collectively, with the support of our friends, colleagues, and fellow lovers of form, we are in search of the impossible: to establish a brand that thoroughly represents the history of modern design in Mexico. The impossibility of such a search is, of course, what keeps us going.
Each piece that we make provides a link to a Mexican history of design and architecture. But they are also very much from our time, as the craft has evolved with time, surviving industrialization, and because the woods, leathers and textiles have also evolved.
Although we work with state-of-the-art tools and machinery these pieces always require a talented hand. Therefore, our products are not only fragments of time, but they are also time itself: the time dedicated to creating them and the time of careful and painstakingly detailed work by highly skilled masters in wood, upholstery, and design development.
Kvadrat Tonica 2 Fabric
Kvadrat Hallingdal 65
In order to transmit time through our pieces, we must find the right materials and partners. For our upholstered chairs we have found a superb partner in Kvadrat textiles, from whom we source the fabric Tonica 2 for The Eco Chair and Hallingdal 65 for the Tepoztlán chair. These textiles have the unique quality of referring us to the past while still seeming contemporary.
All our woods and leather are sourced within the highest sustainability international standards. Our woods are sourced from sustainable forests and treated in certified processing plants. Similarly, we obtain the leathers we use from certified, conscious producers and retailers. For us, it’s just as important to be responsible with our environment as it is to create wonderfully unique pieces.
