Design

These five fascinating facts about Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena will surprise you

Creative personalities have fascinating journeys. Whether they make a conscious decision to follow an artistic path or whether their development is best described as an organic and serendipitous series of events that leads to the creative field, those who work in this expressive industry have strong philosophies that represent their upbringing and the people who influenced them.

Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena, the duo behind Los Trompos, on view at Discovery Green from Nov. 14, 2015 to March 22, 2016, have interesting stories to tell.

Below are five facts about Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena that will surprise you.

1. Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena prefer to be called designers instead of artists. They believe that the purpose of design is “to weave and generate interactions, human connections and emotions, to relate to users, and to enhance and translate our inheritance and skills into new expressions.”

2. While Los Trompos clearly nods to the street toy enjoyed by children in Mexico, how each spinning top is fashioned actually pays homage to the traditions and skills of the craftsmen in Mexico — particularly the weavers.

3. Although Los Trompos might seem vibrant, fun and colorful on the surface, the designers see the installation as a “responsibility towards society to use our know how to create better communities, better cities, and to improve our experience as humans in this world.”

4.  For the last 26 years, Héctor Esrawe has been designing furniture and interiors. From a young age, he felt attracted to objects, how they were built and their mechanics.

5. Ignacio Cadena is influenced by nature, music and beauty. In a Designboom interview, he says that “I have a lot of influences from film making, to industrial design, to graphic design even if architecture is my true love.”