Contemporary Estriado Bench by Domingos Tótora, Brazil, 2014

Domingos Tótora was born and raised in Maria da Fé, Brazil, 1960. He creates objects and sculptures where beauty is inseparable from function, lifting common everyday objects and injecting them with the spirit of the beautiful mountainous region he grew up in. After studying design in São Paulo and Inspired by the large amounts of discarded cardboard he saw in the streets, Tótora created a process where reclaimed cardboard is broken down into small parts, transformed into a cellulose plaster and with the use of added water, glue and natural pigments gets shaped into new forms. Although Tótora’s team follows his designs closely, his creations are made by hand and inherently open for little imperfections and differences, purposely adding to the Wabi-Sabi aesthetic of the work.