Core77

The avocado is venerated the world over. The fleshy fruit, native to Mexico, can be found as far as Bali or South Africa. Its bulbous shape and dark rind became the subject of a nuanced correspondence between designers Christiane Büssgen of Germany and Jesús Alonso of Mexico.

Through emails and sketches the two romanced the fruit to hypnotic levels, fleshing out projects in tableware with mixed materials in porcelain, wood, and metal. The avocado silhouette became the basis for the duo C4's Project Avolution presented at New York Design Week in 2011, combining a passion for food and natural materials, where each item on the table is related to a part of the avocado through its material or shape. Think skin, shape, and pit. Then add the avocado as ingredient.

The two designers first met in 2010 during New York Design Week and kept a vigilant avocado log. Christiane had been making porcelain avocado prototypes for more than a year, excited by their porous skin and bowl shape. Jesus extended the dialogue with poetic sketches and his own cultural context.

Using the avocado as an object to catapult their creative collaboration, the two have extended their partnership into other salient projects in fashion, interiors, product, and branding. For 2012, they've designed a new furniture line with stools and tables for a Mexican patisserie. More and more they are working out of Monterrey, Mexico, a city rich in artisan traditions and a modern capitol of mass production.

Alonso says the use of color in everyday life in Mexico is a big influence in their work, "We like our creative environment to be simple but intense to create high-level objects with precious materials."

We look forward in seeing their curious attention to textures and materials in coming projects.