Angular steel extrusions clash cheekily with broad, generous wooden fillets in the new Siembra furniture collection by baba estudio, led by designer, architect, and founder Blanca Arcos. “Siembra” is a Spanish word, evoking the planting of rows of crops, one after another. This transports to a more rural dynamic, the solidity and tone of the pieces far different from the spiky dynamism of an urban landscape. Created in Mexico City, this collection pulls upon the themes of hardness and ergonomics, softness and reality – expansive notions explored within the materiality of form.
The three-piece collection – an armchair, chair, and side table – plays a sly game of visual misdirection. Conceived as a cohesive family of decorative yet contemporary furniture, the pieces are designed to complement and serve one another: the side coffee table not only anchors the seating but can transform into a stool or footrest for either seat. Born from a formal experimentation, Siembra simulates a shift in each piece’s very nature, pitting appearance against reality. Organic curves and sinuous lines infuse the steel-and-wood structures with a deceptive sense of fluidity and plasticity, as though their hard surfaces might move when touched. This deliberate manipulation of perception renders them almost dream-like – soft where they are unyielding, pliant where they are immovable – resulting in objects that seem to slip out of the realm of realism altogether.
Like an electrocardiogram rendered in wood, the Siembra Chair retains a visual simplicity while also crafting narrative within the scope of the pine ply, lines reaching up through the entire plane of the seat. Finished in a light satin, this highlights the luminosity of the grain while offering welcome contrast. Elegant armrests come into view, offering a suggested boundary without the restriction of a closed chair.
The Siembra Armchair defies the eternal force of gravity, resting upon its frame in a way that simulates idealized wooden drapery, orthogonally correct in its estimation of where the liquid solidity would lie. From the side, we can see the signature plywood rungs of the collection, as much growth rings as thickness of form.
The Siembra Table can be used in multiple ways – as a side table, an extra seat, or footrest. Solid-looking yet still remaining delicate, the steel frame holds a mini form of this idealized drape yet again, thick frosting spilling over the sides of a birthday cake.
Designed and produced in Mexico City, Blanca Arcos is a huge fan of experimentation. Refinement of ideas can only happen when a multitude of ideas are on the table, and Arcos understands that self-contradictory doesn’t mean out of touch. Primarily working in wood and steel, she established her studio in 2022, and has shown at many exhibitions and galleries since, such as Inédito Mexico Design Week, Capitales Gallery, Mexico Design Fair Puerto Escondido, and Unique Design x Group.
To learn more about Siembra Furniture by baba estudio, please visit babaestudio.com.
Photography by Aun_11o.
