Rafael Prieto creates furniture from fragments of New York buildings

Local designer Rafael Prieto has created a collection of furniture using cast-offs of a Tribeca facade for his latest exhibition at Emma Scully Gallery in New York City.

For The Future of the Past exhibition, Prieto used sixteen salvaged pieces from the renovation of an early twentieth-century building that was taking place across from his New York studio.

According to the team, Prieto "became deeply interested" in the ornamental pieces from the building during the renovation project, and eventually arranged to have them preserved.

He held them in his studio for a year before working with them, mulling over their "history, meaning, and potential" and their connection to the city at large.

"For Prieto, the fragments became a way of thinking about New York itself", said the team.

The collection includes four tables that incorporate the actual architectural pieces, including a chunk of a cornice, while other objects, such as a bright red chair, contain lines and motifs that were abstracted from the discarded building bits.

Prieto built out around the architectural stone with contemporary colours and materials, such as lacquered birch wood painted in deep purple, black and red, or an exposed-burl veneer.

The Red Birch and Stone Table, for instance, stands on one leg made of an architectural corbel, one leg made of bright red striated birch, and a top of birch with burl veneer.

Other pieces in the collection include a stool with a fragment wedged in the centre and a low-lying burl veneer chair with red geometric arm supports.

"The dichotomy between these materials – the hard and the soft, the historic and the contemporary – runs throughout the collection," said the team.

Displayed at Emma Scully Gallery, the collection is surrounded by a wallpaper designed by Prieto and Wallpaper Projects, which depicts Prieto's photography.

Prieto, who is originally from Mexico, also runs marketing studio Savvy between New York and Mexico City. He also founded a chocolate company.

Local designers often take inspiration from New York City, interpreting their personal experiences through made objects. Recent work includes a chair by Italian designer Massimiliano Malagò that is a reflection on why he continually returns to the city and delicate lamps designed by Bechara Maalouf made with wood scraps from old building beams.

The photography is by Clement Pascal.

The Future of the Past is on view at Emma Scully Gallery in the Upper East Side from 30 September to 12 December. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

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