Bursting at the seams with art and artisan goods, Bomboti is the visual representation of the extensive exploration carried out by Andrés Mier y Terán and Regina Galvanduque around traditional crafts and contemporary workshops in different parts of the world. Over the course of their design and architecture work, the founders of MYT+GLVDK have assembled a repertoire of pieces that “represent humanity’s inventiveness in transforming materials with the greatest manual skill.”
These discoveries have been made possible by in-depth field research, which has led Mier y Terán and Galvanduque to meet potters, stonemasons, cabinetmakers, metal forgers, potters, goldsmiths, weavers and other artisans, guardians of knowledge passed down for generations within communities, both in Mexico and in other countries. As a tribute to these legacies, and with the desire to sublimate creativity to a higher level, they founded Bomboti as a thesis focused on the essentials of technique and materials. It begins with a powerful aesthetic statement: a black canvas against which to appreciate the beauty of the handmade. Its name—taken from the Otomi word b’o, mb’ot’i, mbo’i, used to designate the color black—evokes a symbolism linked to mystery, the dichotomy between light and shadow and elegance.
Located in Mexico’s City Polanco neighborhood, Bomboti reflects this fusion of devotion to beauty and experimentation in the form of exceptional objects. A walk through them is a journey that invites exploration, from different angles, of the infinite possibilities produced by the pairing of manual skills and natural materials.
On the ground floor, a double-height bookcase welcomes the visitor with a choice of ornamental objects, stationery, books, music and merchandising for everyday life. The first floor, the Gallery, is occupied by a selection curated for a lifestyle with a bucolic and eclectic essence, expressed through furniture, lighting and emblematic creations from MYT+GLVDK studio’s portfolio. Added to this are textiles, tableware, sculptures, pottery, and limited editions made together with the firm’s clients, special collaborations with artisans, designers and collectives and a series of unique pieces, which are finds made by Mier y Terán y Galvanduque in their journeys through Mexico and other destinations, in addition to the careful curatorship of Pablo Cobo, Bomboti’s Art Curator.
On the third floor, where a Nordic-style glasshouse with solar panels has been installed, is the Studio, which is dedicated to experiments that seek unprecedented, surprising and even disruptive applications of the methods and specialisms of the talented individuals invited to form part of its program of artistic commissions.
In Bomboti, Mier y Terán and Galvanduque have conceived an experience that opens the door to a dimension celebrating the transformative power that emerges when creativity is stimulated, and blurs the lines that, until now, separated art, design, craft, and architecture.
Photography by Diego Padilla.
Like what you see? Get it first with a subscription to aspire design and home magazine.