Drifting Away
The six pieces that make up Fernando Mastrangelo’s Drift collection look as if they were from solid rock. Or solid ice, in this case, as the cool ombré shades were inspired by the gargantuan glaciers of Patagonia that Mastrangelo saw on a 7,000 km motorcycle journey down the length of Chile. It is also a departure for the Uruguay-born, New York-based designer; Mastrangelo’s previous collections were based on his technique of binding salt with other granulated substances like sugar, quartz and coffee grounds together with resin.
For the Drift collection, instead of salt, Mastrangelo used sand. Consisting of a sofa, a mirror, benches and stools, the collection is cast using layers of blue sand, powdered glass and cement in hand-carved moulds, marrying a rugged aesthetic with a refined one – the bench appears to be a sleek orthogonal design cantilevered out of a rocky outcrop, while the sofa looks like silk velvet upholstery set within a chilly chunk of ice. Handmade, each piece in the Drift collection is unique and produced in very limited quantities.
