At Home with a Master of Recycling in Madrid - Remodelista
Photography by Erea Azurmendi and Adrian Cano Franco via Freunde von Freunden. Product designer Alvaro Catalán de Ocón is the genius behind the PET Lamp, a global project devoted to turning castoff soda bottles into artisan-made woven pendant lights: See Fantastic Plastic. Alvaro and Sofia in front of Matadero Madrid, a contemporary art center near their factory. Triple Chimbarongo PET Lamps made by wicker craftsmen in central Chile hang over a table used for work meetings by... ...day and dinners by night The Eames Aluminum Chairs transformed with embroidery are part of Alvaro s Home Office project Canvas curtains and a sliding wooden door with a Droog doorbell divide the public and private parts of the factory The sofas are Paola... ...Navone s Ghost design from Gervasoni available from Home Stories in Brooklyn Heights and the leather chair is the classic PK22 by Poul Kjaerholm Alvaro’s modular Rayuela stools are clustered to form a coffee table that looks tiled. Bookshelves separate the living room from Alvaro’s bedroom. The room’s sliding door is shown on the left. The cupboard was passed down from Alvaro’s grandfather and is used as a bar. The table is another piece by Francesco Faccin and a Rayuela stool holds a projector–”We don’t have a TV because I prefer to watch films; my daughter and I project them directly onto the wall.” Above L: Sofia’s cabin-like room has a sleeping area and play loft. I wanted a very open and light kitchen linked to the dining area And I wanted the cooking utensils plates and cutlery... ...to be visible and easy to grab says Alvaro The dishwasher is located next to the sink and camouflaged by a plywood front The stack of spattered and striped bowls are from an Easter visit to Nijar in the south of Spain, “an amazing region of folk crafts; it’s where all the Spaghetti Westerns were shot.” The cooktop is a Siemens induction plate. The “clean office space” is hung with 21 examples from Alvaro’s first PET Lamp collection, made in Colombia. The Home/Office project offers the possibility of transforming the Aluminum Chair into a local product by local artisans,” writes Alvaro. A look at PET Lamp construction, colorful cloth cords included. The lights are assembled in a workroom with a table built from a wooden shipping crate found in Alvaro’s previous studio.