Episode 67: Clara Porset
The time, was May 25th, 1895. The place, is Matanzas, Cuba. Clara Porset was born. She was born into wealth and political influence. Because of this, she had a lot of opportunities, she studied art, architecture, and design at Columbia University’s School of Fine Arts in 1925 to study the Bauhaus, Ecole des Beaux-Arts, the Sorbonne, and the Louvre, and Black Mountain College, to name a few. She began working on furniture for homes and schools in Cuba in 1932. Three years later she moved to Mexico where she met her future husband, the painter Xavier Guerrero.
Throughout her life she worked with the most famous architects in Mexico at the time, Luis Barragan hired her to furnish the Pietro López House and Galvez Residence, and Max Cetto got her to design his own home. With Juan Sordo Madaleno she did the interior design and furniture of the Paris Movie Theater. She was also involved in hospital projects with Enrique Yañez. She did the interior design of the National Medical Center, the reception, the library, and intern residences for the Hospital of the Race. She became a professor at the industrial design department of UNAM, where she would teach for the rest of her life. In 1971 The National Institute of Fine Arts awarded Clara their Gold Medal, recognizing Clara as a pioneer of modern Mexican design. Amazing. Clara passed away at 86 years old in 1981. In her will, she stipulated her home should be sold and to start a scholarship for Women to study industrial design. That's how the Clara Porset Award was born, though it took years to get it off the ground, the first award was given in 1993. The University built the Clara Porset Library to house everything she donated, her papers, collections, all the things. She’s a great example to follow for all architects to document and share their knowledge for future generations.
Caryatid: Patricia Uquiola Hidalgo
Patricia Uquiola Hidalgo is a Spanish industrial designer and architect and based in Milan. She studied architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan where she graduated in 1989. Throughout her career she’s been an assistant lecturer, worked with many well known designers such as Achille Castiglioni and Vico Magistretti. She was the Head of Design for Lissoni Associati and in 2001 she decided to open up her own firm. Her projects all over the map from The Museum of Jewlery in Vicenza, Hotel Mandarin Oriental in Barceloa. Retail and display for Cassina, BMW, Ferragamo, Flos, H&M. She has done product and furniture design for numerous companies, for example: Haworth, Kartell, Louis Vuitton, Morroso. Patricia’s work has been part of museum exhibitions and some of it is a part of the permanent collection at MoMA in New York. In 2011 King Juan Carlos I of Spain awarded the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes and the Order of Isabella the Catholic.
References
Díaz Torres, Nicolás David. “Clara Porset. Passion for Knowledge and Industrial Design | the Strength of Architecture | From 1998.” Metalocus, 3 Mar. 2021, www.metalocus.es/en/news/clara-porset-passion-knowledge-and-industrial-design.
Facultad de Arquitectura de la UNAM. “Clara Porset Y Xavier Guerrero. Una Pareja En El Ámbito Artístico.” Repentina FA, vol. 5, Sept. 2019, pp. 34–45. arquitectura.unam.mx/uploads/8/1/1/0/8110907/rep_sep_19.pdf.
Martin, Hannah. “The Story Behind the Design of the Iconic Butaque Chair.” Architectural Digest, 2 May 2019, www.architecturaldigest.com/story/the-story-behind-the-design-of-the-iconic-butaque-chair.
Muxi, Zaida. “Clara Porset 1895-1981.” Un Día | Una Arquitecta, 27 Mar. 2015, undiaunaarquitecta.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/clara-porset-1895-1981.
Wikipedia contributors. “Clara Porset.” Wikipedia, 16 Dec. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Porset.
