ERNESTO GOMEZ GALLARDO

(1917-2012)

Ernesto Gómez Gallardo (1917-2012) was a prolific architect and furniture designer, and one of the principal proponents of brutalism in Mexican architecture. Soon after his graduation from the National School of Architecture he conceived some the most recognizable pieces of mid-century design: the desk chairs for the students at the Universidad Nacional (UNAM), as well as a set of chairs, tables and credenzas for rural schools. The latter won him the silver medal at the Trienniale di Milano in 1963. Five years later, the curator and exhibition designer Fernando Gamboa commissioned from him the furniture that would be featured in Mexico’s participation at HemisFair, the 1968 World’s Fair in San Antonio, Texas. Gomez Gallardo’s set was inspired by Scandinavian furniture, albeit with slightly sturdier lines and forms.

One of his most striking buildings is the house he designed for himself which, like many of his architectural exercises at the time, was inspired on the Möbius strip.Turning the inside out as well as the floors into ceilings, with this house Gómez Gallardo also explored his interest in modular designing and building, a characteristic that can be seen in the ceilings of this house, as well as in the way different battens of wood compose many of his pieces of furniture.