Objects and Furniture Designed by Tomás Alonso

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It’s not the first time that I’ve come across the work of Tomás Alonso, mainly noting his fantastic furniture in the past, but I’ve also been admiring the smaller objects that he’s produced over the years. So I thought I’d amalgamate both of them to cover a wider range of his projects, meaning you can get a feel for his aesthetic and what sort of intentions he has as a maker/designer. It may also be worth noting that most of his project on his website have a ‘behind the scenes’ type section that you can view, so you can see how they are made and the actual manufacturing of the goods. This is probably the most interesting part for me as a creative.

Tomás is currently based in London, but was born in Spain and is inspired heavily by the ‘Modern Movement’, one of his biggest inspirations being the Bauhaus. I’d say his work is very much craft based, he takes a hands on approach and likes to experiment with a mixture of materials. Wood is one that dominates his portfolio, possibly because it’s easy to manipulate when creating prototypes and ideas from scratch. On the other hand, my favourite completed project by Tomás is the Tea Service set for Wiener Silber in 2011 (click here to see them being made), which includes a tea pot, sugar bowl, milk jug, spoon and tray. Those who’re eagle-eyed may liken this set to some works by Marianne Brandt, who was known for designing metal ashtrays, tea and coffee services for the Bauhaus school. This one by Tomás Alonso rings of that but with an updated twist, it’s very fluid even though the forms are quite blocky. I also like the juxtaposition between the silver and the Zebrano wood, manmade and natural.

Something that instantly jumped out at me when collecting all these fantastic images was the fact that all of his ideas for products are easily understandable, even though he’s experimented with the formation and general structure the principle for each still resides. I guess he has function at the forefront of his ideology. This is what I personally admire, as there’s far too many unusable things out there, but at the same time he’s skilfully injecting creativity by using a variety of materials and colours, also changing some of the individual elements. In the end this will generate new ideas and concepts that are relevant to everyday life. Obviously I could only pick out a limited amount of photos, but there’s plenty more on his website that will definitely satisfy all your ‘design’ needs. Enjoy!

tomas-alonso.com

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