Dogmatic Furniture Design workshops and lectures

Martínez Otero’s charitable foundation, Fundación María Martínez Otero, donates money to art and culture, and I agreed to develop a workshop concept that aims to offer new ways to set people’s creative potential free. We realize the workshop soon after, and it is one of the greatest, most amazing projects I have ever been involved in. Titled ‘Mueblos Dogmáticos’ (Dogmatic Furniture), the workshop drew on inspiration from Danish ‘dogma’ film-making, requiring the participants to create furniture using only wood, string and a saw – no glue, paint, nails or screws. A design process that is completely free and unrestrained is uninteresting, while limitations that restrict our freedom serve to stimulate our full sensory capacity and can lead to outstanding and more holistic solutions. The workshop included sensory training in an atmosphere full of drama and humour where we got to know each other, used our senses in brief exercises and unleashed the sensory energy of the design process. The 25 participants – artists, architects, designers and companies – worked all-out for five days and created amazing constructions. During the process I sought to frame the creative process theoretically with inspiration and talks, including presentations on the Bauhaus manifesto, Gustave Eiffel, material properties and materials sovereignty. The five-day process concluded with a presentation for the cultural elite of Santiago de Compostela – architects, writers and artists. The participants’ works were shown on a large outdoor projection screen, like a scene out of the Italian film Nuovo Cinema Paradiso. The workshop was followed up by a lecture and workshop series throughout Spain.

Manufacturer: Martinez Otero
Fundación Maria Martinez Otero

Elena Fabeiro: Initiator of the workshop and director of Fundación Maria Martinez Otero.
Roman Padin: Interpreter and co-teacher, fashion scholar, Doctor en Bellas Artes.
Beatriz Gómez : Key account manager, an important person who ensured that my project was realistic.
Marco Gil: From La Alegre Compañía. Marco Gil is the reason why I became involved in this amazing network.