blackbox

MANIFEST

“The term black box has been used to describe some-thing that performs a function, but its inner-workings are complex and mysterious” Dr. Michale J. Behe

Oaxaca has one of the highest emigration rates of all Mexican States. In response to this, Blackbox seeks to create a solid, high quality and creative handcraft industry that includes several communities in the cre-ation of new products.

Every product is unique, breaks with the established and experiments with this form of creation. This is our revolution, our way to seek change, with mud or paper pulp on our hands, sawdust covering our faces and weaving a dream thread by thread, a dream of autono-my, opportunity and freedom that is full of expression…

blackboxThis project provides jobs in rural Oaxaca, and therefore respects an ancestral way of life that was inherited through the generations.

This was a great model for an interdisciplinary give and take that resulted in the creation of something unique, something that offer an alternative to migration. We de-veloped a storefront with more than a dozen products that had more than a hundred collaborators in different rural towns around Oaxaca. The project is still going and has been published in different international maga-zines (Town and Country, National Geographic, etc.)

Entrepreneurship

The design of the logo is based on the arrangements of the same module, creating a box. This symbolizes the collaboration into creating the project.

In this page: from left to right, top to bottom:

1. MDF Chair.

2. Process wall at the blackbox studio.

3. Don Apolonio Martinez, Nest Lamp collaborator.

4. The women of San Lorenzo Albarradas, collaborators in the

telabrijes community project.

5. The store in Oaxaca.

6. Carpenter Rodrigo Garcia, Ladder Chair collaborator.

The Store

http://gfricke.com/

In 2004 we started traveling from town to town, visiting communities dedicated to producing specific crafts. With respect and humility we taught what we knew, such as means and matter, and form and content, at the same time the artisans were instructing us in their traditions, and as well in the diversity of material resources in the region.

This has been an interdisciplinary give and take, in the end, we have created something unique.

GUSTAVO FRICKE

DESIGNING THE STORE

We created a storefront in the city of Oaxaca. The objective was to exchange knowl-edge with handcrafters in the different regions of the state and develop new designs, respecting their technique and ways of creation. The storefront allowed visibility of the project. The store is still open. We work with more than a dozen communities, artists and designers.

Shadow Rug / Bag

http://gfricke.com/

We traced the contour of a tree shadow from the archeological site of Monte Alban. The concept was to create the memory of the tree by reproducing its shadow. It is hand woven in Teotitlan del Valle by artisan Sergio Lazo using organic wool.

We traced the contour of a tree shadow to create the pattern.

We also created a line of bags using tree and lamp post shadows from the streets of Oaxaca. The strap of the bag has a hand woven bird from the region.

Nest Lamp

http://gfricke.com/

We developed this lamp in collaboration with an artisan that has mastered a material from the region, similar to bamboo, called carrizo. Don Apolonio Martinez has trav-eled around the world teaching and learning different techniques that have allow him to develop his craft.

This lamp was developed using local materials.

The shape is inspired from a nest that hangs from the trees in the coast of Oaxaca.

GUSTAVO FRICKE

MDF Chair

Conceptualized after playing with a 3d puzzle and thinking of producing it with a CNC router, the pieces of the chair were designed in a modular material saving way, this process resulted in the chair final form.

A transportable chair conceived to use less material.

The chair is collapsible, it includes screws and screwdriver and you can assemble it in less than five minutes. When collapsed, it fits in a box that is allowed on an airplane.

GUSTAVO FRICKE

Fiber Lamps

We designed a process that allows us to mold different fibers from the Oaxaca re-gion. The fibers are boiled and then soaked with cactus slime, providing more struc-ture to the pulp. Then we dye the pulp with different organic materials and sands.

The fiber pulp is molded to create different shapes

The pulp is placed in a plaster mold. When dried the piece is extracted, enabling the form to be structured and rigid.

GUSTAVO FRICKE

Basket Table

To develop this design we collaborated with a carpenter and a welder in two different communities. The concept was to create a table through the collaboration of different communties and handcrafters with different skills.

This table is produced through the collaboration of different communities and craftsmen.

The basket could be recycled from a supermarket. It creates a space to organize magazines and newspapers.

GUSTAVO FRICKE

Hexagon Rug

This piece was developed thinking of modular growth. The module is a hexagon that is hand woven. The artisan, Sergio Lazo, developed a special knot technique to enable the shape. The color palette was inspired by posters within the community markets in the surroundings of the city of Oaxaca.

Modular growth

By producing this rug, the artisan developed a technique that enabled him to create different shapes. This parted from the traditional rectangle form of the region.

PRINTS

We developed different print material using handcrafted paper made from local fibers. This paper was developed in collaboration with the paper factory in Etla, Oaxaca; a project founded by the artist Francisco Toledo.

The paper for these prints was developed in collaboration with local handcrafters

The designs were inspired by the streets of Oaxaca.

http://gfricke.com/

TelabrijesCommunity Project

http://gfricke.com/

We collaborated with Amigos de las Americas in the development of this project. We provided a group of women in the community of San Lorenzo Albarradas with left-over pieces of fabric. We encourage them to create fantastic creatures with the fab-ric. The result was a beautiful and encouraging display of imagination and creativity that allowed them to befriend each other and create an alternative source of income.

The creatures were sold in the store. Each woman received 80% of each telabrije. We developed three different generations.

Ladder Chair Redesign

http://gfricke.com/

This chair was originally produced for a library in an 18th century Austrian monastery. We redesign the line and construction of the chair. A family of carpenters in Oaxaca was able to produce it using certified wood.

The hinge needed to be specially designed and manufactured by a family that spe-cializes in blacksmithing.

GUSTAVO FRICKE

WOODEN / PLASTIC VASE

This flower vase is created with a community of carpenters. We first made the vase as a model for a ceramic mold, we try a fluorescent color plastic glass on and we loved it.

BLACK POTTERY

Throughout my stay in Oaxaca I experimented with the production of mold produced pieces. In this case we took the molds to a community that specializes in black pot-tery, a tradition that has been carried from before the pre-Hispanic age.

CURATORIAL PROJECT / MORPH

We collaborated in the creation of a project that involved more than a dozen artists that reside in Oaxaca. The objective was to intervene the central market of the city.

http://morph1.blogspot.com/