Manuel Bañó
enquire informationManu Bañó was born in Valencia, Spain in 1990. After studying industrial design at UCH CEU university in Valencia and a master’s degree in furniture and lighting, he joined Magnus Long studio in London and collaborated in projects for Central Saint Martins University. Then he moved to Mexico City in 2013 where he currently lives and works.
His work has been exhibited in design fairs such as Design Miami/Basel, Salone in Milan, Zona Maco in Mexico, and has also been honored with awards such as Best of Year by Interior Design Magazine, A Design Award and If Design Award.
Son of a designer and an artist, Manu grew up in a creative and experimental environment, awakening from an early age his interest in materials, craft techniques and the nature of objects.
His Sculptural Wall Mirror series explores the reflective property of copper, which, when polished, generates a mirror surface. With the purpose of being sculptural pieces, they occupy the space that would normally be taken by a painting on a wall. It consists of the same object duplicated in symmetry, one concave and the other convex, designed to be displayed together as a single work. Copper, tempered by fire, abandons its two-dimensional form to occupy a three-dimensional space through human manipulation. In its finish, the marks of the material’s production process are evident, without patinas or polish.
His Sculptural Floor Mirror are two identical and symmetrical pieces, polished on both faces, make up the floor mirror. Hammering not only aims to give texture to the piece but also to deform it to create volume and structure, allowing it to stand on its own. It is a monolithic object that occupies the space normally taken by a sculpture. The piece is approached as an honest testimony to its own manufacturing, a formal exercise without intellectual pretensions.