Tropicalizando
Tropicalizar is a neologism used by advertising agencies when adapting a North American product or campaign to Latin American countries.
It is also used in architecture to describe the process of translating an international starchitects project to local authorities, not only for licensing purposes, but also to adapt it to the local craftsmanship limitations and material availability, trying in the process to reduce costs.
In most cases this mutation takes away all the qualities of the architect original intentions and leaves the projects lacking innovation, precision, and their original character.
In the case of Tropicalizando, the purpose is to achieve the opposite.
The artefacts showcase local traditions, materials, craftsmanship and culture of modern day and age.
The 2022 edition of Pinta Miami will feature, for the first time, a collector design space.
Curated by Pascal Tarabay, artist and designer, the show will focus on the Latin American contemporary design scene.
Under the theme Tropicalizando, the selection of furniture, objects, lighting and rugs is a testimony of today’s dynamic interaction between traditional and contemporary design processes and materials, international design culture and local customs, which have created a variety of new hybrid languages and identities in the Americas.
An important part of the show will be the new Lima Modern Gallery edition of art rugs and tapestries weaved in traditional Andean processes by Peruvian master artisans. Both designers and artisans were challenged to create innovative pieces with one of the most ancestral techniques and materials, some of which haven’t changed for thousands of years.
The theme was chosen to challenge a diffused practice of adapting imported concepts, by seeking an opposite attitude from designers interested in creating a contemporary vision with local cultures and means.
From negative and pejorative, the concept of Tropicalizar thus transforms into a superlative, a synonym of enrichment of the design project.
The show will include design pieces by Franscisco Gomez Paz (Argentina), Atelier Caracas (Venezuela), Giovanni Lauda (Italy), Paula Juchem (Brazil), Valentina Maggiolo (Perù), Domingos Tótora (Brazil), Marina Garcia Burgos (Perù), Leo Capote (Brazil), Javier Rubio (Perù), Spockdesign (Lebanon), Javier Robles (Perù), Ale Jordao (Brazil), Mariagroup (Lebanon), Christie Arias + Sergio Guzman (Perù), Jaime Ortiz de Zevallos (Perù), Lorenzo Bustillos (Venezuela), Octavo (Perú).
Pascal Tarabay is an architect and artist born in 1970 in Beirut, Lebanon. He studied at École Penninghen in Paris until 1994, and at Domus Academy in Milan in 1998, where he continued teaching on a regular basis.
He has an extensive experience in architecture and design projects in Italy, Peru and the Middle East. His work has been widely published, awarded and exhibited in design institutions and galleries internationally. A constant in his work is the questioning of the limits between various creative disciplines, and the promotion of design and art culture. He currently lives in Lima, where he created Lima Modern, a design and architecture gallery, editing local and international architects and a design culture magazine.
