sketch London, arguably one of the most visually striking, talked-about restaurants in the British capital, isn't new to larger-than-life creative arrangements that completely revolutionize what an eatery and bar is meant to look, feel, and sometimes (don't worry, I'll get to that later) even smell like.
Home, among the others, to the now golden-hued, previously Venetian pink the Gallery — the Instagram-famous London restaurant designed by Livingetc favorite India Mahdavi in 2014 and most recently revamped in collaboration with artist Yinka Shonibare in 2022 — when it comes to design that spills outside of what we believe to be possible, you can trust this multi-restaurant address to have a surprise or two in store for you.
Unveiled on Thursday, September 18, ¡hola, London!, the first UK exhibition of Mexico City and New York's creative platform AGO Projects and, fittingly, one of the coolest design exhibitions in London right now (through November 11), marks the return of sketch's annual art and design exhibition.
Embodying the playfully irreverent, thought-provoking energy and craftsmanship-focused aesthetic that brings together the 58 talents represented by Rudy F. Weissenberg and Rodman Primack's gallery as a whole is Daniel Valero, the founding designer of whimsical studio practice Mestiz, whose handwoven, wavy wicker lampshades, quirky ceramics, and creaturesque wool experimentation we have grown to love recently.
Spanning sketch London's entrance and reception areas, as well as the spaceship-looking roof of its surreal East Bar & Pods nook, the uplifting installation infuses a fresh dose of wonder into the institution's color-blocked hallways.
Realized in partnership with cult brand PATRÓN® Tequila, which has curated a collateral program of bookable music-fueled cocktail nights to take place at 9 Conduit Street every Friday evening for the duration of the event, with Latin DJs, salsa dancers, and Mexican-inspired canapés, ¡hola, London! instantly reminded of one important thing.
In a world where political tensions and growing social discontent can drive us apart, it is often those creatives who don't feel the urge to take themselves too seriously who unite and inspire us when we need it most. People whose artistic efforts go hand in hand with a desire to craft objects that are as carefully assembled — sculpted into shape through ancestral techniques that value heritage and quality over wasteful, yet faster, practices — as they are imbued with a genuine ability to inject a sense of hope, of joy, into the everyday.
Originally commissioned by the Denver Art Museum, the majority of the pieces on display at sketch London in Mestiz's AGO Projects-backed autumn takeover belong to Valero's El Charco immersive installation, where "materials are transformed into wild furniture, skillfully crafted to reflect their natural environments and guided by a colorful cosmovision," explained the studio.
From the moment visitors step in, they are immediately confronted with a plethora of contrasting textures, amusing silhouettes, and soul-lifting messages left on both paper and petate fiber, all of which contribute to making the exhibition one to know.
Crocodile-passing wicker shelves (or stools?) dot the arched passageway that leads to two of sketch London's most beloved spaces, namely the Glade and the Gallery, and so do the many hand-painted plant motifs artist Daniel Gordian Mora left on the walls, towering cacti-shaped totems, and knitted, eye-catching banners scattered throughout.
Based in San Miguel de Allende and part of AGO Projects' Mexico City roster of designers, Valero charges each of his large-scale pieces with the folkloric symbolism, natural connection, and storied artistry that serve as the heart of his country's craft.
"Handmade using local materials and time-honoured techniques, transforming botanical elements into works of design imbued with life and movement," the studio explains, these objects are "creating mystical spaces where the seemingly ordinary becomes extraordinary."
What emerges from this surreal, technicolored puzzle of forms is "a dreamlike terrain that blurs the boundaries between nature and design, folklore and modernity," Valero says. It only makes sense then that, wrapped up in the radiant, comforting essence of the designer's creations when I visit the show before my Thursday office tasks get in the way, I don't quite seem to find the courage to step away.
¡hola, London! continues at sketch London through November 11.
