Davidpompa creates lighting from discarded shells at Mexico City art week

Lighting design studio Davidpompa has used the discarded shells from restaurant Contramar to create an exhibition for Mexico City art week.

The second iteration of a collaboration between Contramar and Davidpompa, the Fragmentos de Mar exhibition transformed the studio's showroom, located in a historic building in the Roma Norte neighbourhood.

Studio founder David Pompa told Dezeen that the amount of discarded materials inherent to the consumption of seafood made sense for use in design.

"It felt like an obvious choice to use these leftover shells to create a new kind of object," he said. "Of course, many design and research practices have used shells to create materials before, but for us the approach was to combine the two – to truly merge Contramar with our work."

The exhibition comprises of a lighting collection with interpretations of Pompa's minimal, streamlined style rendered with casings made from a composite of shells made from the restaurant.

These included scones, pendants, table lamps, and a unique piece with suspension element, all of which include high-gloss metallic elements that contrast with the muted reds of the shell composite

Additionally, the showroom was remodeled with large ochre-coloured crates used for transporting oysters, stacked to create walls. Framed plates of the shell base material, were also arranged around the space.

In one instance, the different stages of the material production were arranged along a wall. Here, pendant lights shine down, three in a row, on three pedestals holding shells.

Affixed to the wall between the elements are more framed fragments of the material.

More than 800 kilogrammes of shells were used to create the lights and the scenography for the exhibition.

This represents nearly all of the shell fish and oysters consumed at Contramar over a six-month period.

Pompa said that this direct supply added a degree of intimacy to the project.

"There is something poetic in knowing that sustainable fishing limits access to shells and that this is a dish that is not always on the menu at Contramar," he said.

There are now just as many pieces in this project as there are shells eaten over the last few months.

In line with this material exploration, Dezeen collaborated with the studio for a material guide of Mexico City, designed as a guide for visitors to the busy citywide art week.

Last week, we highlighted 15 design and architecture focused exhibitions taking place during the week.

The photography is courtesy of David Pompa Studio

Fragmentos de Mar is open from 3 to 9 February at Colima 264. For more architecture and design happenings, visit Dezeen Events Guide.

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