image-carlos mate-she was here.jpg alt=carlos mate art peace carpet

Leafing through the pages of this book made out of objects, you are going to discover a character.  You are not going to see any description, or any image of her, but nevertheless, she will always be present - she is in her furniture, her objects, those are her fingerprints. Her feelings are inside these objects and her tears fell down on them. She is the character from a script not yet finished, an open book of  frozen moments that gives you the possibility of beginning to read or to make your own movie.

An imaginary character is coming closer through its fingerprints , from the details between the surfaces, to make references to feelings, like forgiveness, the passing of time and the futility of the intention. The project is a confusing game that through a variety of technics and strategies question aspects like perception , or the value between what we are expecting to see and what we aré actually seeing. Furniture that show, apparently, the trace of use and the corrosion of time. We are interested by the change of evaluation experienced when discovering that they aré actually detailed preparations, and that the materials used to elaborate them aré not what they should be, in a kind of wink to the spectator. The wooden cracks aré not real, they aré actually carefully drawn, the marks of use are carefully elaborated, apparently simple handles are, in reality valuable elaborations. Stained fabric with drops of paint that are, in the end, tiny embroidery.

This work executes an  archeological exercise the other way around, a fake process of aging that plays with our capacity to see.  It’ s about defending the more  handmade facet in design And art. It is about feigning ready made that adds to its conceptual weight the value of craft.

image-carlos-mate-she-was-here-3.jpg alt=carlos mate art peace mesa-sombra

What seems to be dust, marks of her books, cracks or her trashes on the surface are carefully drawed with pencil. Teardrops are in reallity cristal work on the table. The drawer under the table is carved out of a single peace and the old wood look handle is really bronce casted.

 
She was here is also a carpet that draws her shadow casted out of an unexisting window ..... also her foot prints are on the carpet

She was here is also a carpet that draws her shadow casted out of an unexisting window ..... also her foot prints are on the carpet

Paint and ink finger prints marks on the chais.....wich in fact are carefully embroidered in black silk

Paint and ink finger prints marks on the chais.....wich in fact are carefully embroidered in black silk

image-carlos mate-she was here
 
image-carlos-mate-Milano-design-week-she-was-here- -14.jpg alt=carlos mate art peace she was here at milano design week
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This coffe table is indeed her floor..on her maks, her traces you can read the story...or part of it.What seems to be dust on the table is indeed the final finishing. A lace composition appears throught the wood

 
image-carlos-mate-Milano-design-week-she-was-here- -10.jpg alt=carlos mate art peace she was here at milano design week
 
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The mirror has an effect of breath at the high of her mouth....where  she wrote “unreal”

The mirror has an effect of breath at the high of her mouth....where  she wrote “unreal”

 
image-carlos-mate-Milano-design-week-she-was-here- 2.jpg alt=carlos mate art peace she was here at milano design week
photos by Manuel Toro