pyramids and maya forms shape coco brun and sten studio’s stone vessels

STONE CARRIES THE MEMORY

French artist and designer Coco Brun joins forces with Mexico City-based Sten Studio for Echoes of Mexico, a collection of sculptural vessels rooted in the country’s lapidary traditions. Hand-carved from red travertine, veined marble and multicolored onyx, the pieces translate references to ancient Mesoamerican architecture and ornament into a contemporary design language. Developed with support from the Institut Français d’Amérique Latine (IFAL), Mobilier National and Galerie Territorio, the project was recently recognized in the fourth edition of Le French Design 100 at Art Paris.

The collaboration unfolds through two capsule collections, each limited to a maximum of 10 pieces. Rather than sourcing new blocks, Brun and Sten Studio work with remnants from the workshop’s existing production, including red travertine, white Venetian marble, black Orizaba marble, and pink and green onyx. Variations in veining, translucency and color are therefore not treated as imperfections to be corrected, but as part of the final composition — which is fortunate, considering stone rarely agrees to repeat itself.

marble and onyx define the sculptural vessel series | all images courtesy of Sten Studio and Coco Brun

PYRAMIDS, MASKS AND POLISHED MASS

The Místicos series takes its geometry from the structural logic of Mexican pyramids. Faceted silhouettes, sloped surfaces and flattened summits abstract architectural forms into compact vessels, balancing the visual weight of polished marble against the translucent depth of onyx. Rather than reproducing specific monuments, the pieces distill their proportions and mass into a smaller, more domestic scale.

A different set of references informs Abstracted Ancestry, which looks to the layered geometry of Maya ceremonial masks and, in particular, the oversized ear ornaments worn by dignitaries. The resulting vessels feature oval bodies, sweeping curves and two straight perforated fins that extend from either side. These openings reference the form of historical ear ornaments while also introducing voids into otherwise dense stone objects, shifting the pieces somewhere between vessel, sculpture and architectural fragment.

each piece is shaped from reclaimed stone fragments

LEFTOVER STONE GOES ON TOUR

Material reuse runs through both collections. By working with offcuts from Sten Studio’s primary production, Echoes of Mexico gives fragments that might otherwise remain unused a new formal role. The project therefore connects a highly traditional craft process with a contemporary concern for material efficiency, while preserving the irregularities that make each vessel distinct. The result is not so much recycling disguised as luxury as a demonstration that the leftover piece can occasionally be the most interesting one.

The collection is also conceived as a traveling dialogue between France and Mexico. Following its presentation in Europe, the works are set to appear at the Lake Como Design Festival, before continuing to Mexico City Design Week as part of Inmersiones Creativas at Casa Ortega, an exhibition marking 200 years of diplomatic relations between France and Mexico. The journey concludes in Paris at 1000 Vases, staged at Espace Commines during Art Basel week, extending the project’s conversation between craft, geography and cultural memory across several very different contexts.

polished stone highlights the natural veining and color

the vessels combine dense marble with translucent onyx

geometric forms reference pyramids and ceremonial ornament

upcycled stone gives every vessel a unique material character

curved and faceted silhouettes shape the collection

a closer look at the marble and onyx details

project info:

name: Echoes of Mexico
designer: Sten Studio | @sten.studio

artist: Coco Brun | @c_o_c_o_brun

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. See more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: Iñaki Laguardia | designboom

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