Designing for your Day
Robert Almand
A NYCxDESIGN award winner, architect, and furniture designer, Armando Mora Medina (M.F.A., furniture design) came to SCAD focused on turning ideas into reality. Movement, constant re-examination, and ongoing growth empower him to reach his ultimate goal — overseeing his own studio and design firm. For Armando, standing still is not an option. Design. Redesign. Innovate. Build upon that innovation. Don’t hesitate to take risks, especially when you don’t know what the limitations are. Always follow your own path — even when the furniture you build is seemingly on a journey of its own.
Armando Mora Medina:
“Walky” was a project I created in the class Furniture Studio: Process and Prototype (FURN 748). Professor Frederic Spector asked us to redesign the traditional café experience and I couldn’t stop thinking about the kinetic energy of the space itself. Cafés are busy. They are full of people on the go. They are vibrant in nature. So why was the furniture static?
I just loved the play on movement with “Walky.” People are hustling to get coffee and then off to their next meeting. Furniture should mirror that reality. I wanted the chair to be playful but striking, and worked to find the right balance.
The most difficult part of the project was building the chair. “Walky” was a sketch that immediately jumped off the page as the perfect idea, but when I showed it to my classmates and professor Spector, there was some concern. Could the “feet” take the weight? Could the wood be graceful, and strong enough to support the user? How could anyone assemble a chair without right edges or flat surfaces?
Not knowing how hard it was going to be was, in the end, a blessing. I designed the chair initially in CAD, but I’d never shaped wood like this before. Thankfully, professor Spector was there every step of the way. We honed the design to a place we believed was going to work, but there was definitely a moment in the shop where we had to hope the wood would cooperate.
The process of assembling the chair came into focus through hours in the studio. When I had finally finished and my friends and classmates sat on it and started rocking back and forth, Professor Spector suggested I submit it to the annual NYCxDESIGN Awards.
I really loved the design, but I was still shocked when I received the email announcing I was one of the six winners. Hopefully I will get calls for more chairs since I know how to assemble them now.
I met my wife Viviane (M.F.A., industrial design) when we were in enrolled in our undergraduate studies at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Guadalajara, Mexico. We were both studying architecture, but knew we wanted to have our own design business. Knowing we needed more knowledge, hands-on experience, and support, we began thinking about a masters program. We found SCAD, and moved to Savannah. I can’t describe how much we have enjoyed our SCAD experience.
This year we will be working on our joint thesis. It will focus on how furniture, design, and art can serve multi-purpose functions in a home. Can a table be more that a table? Can chairs create a sense of tranquility or energy in a space? A lot of these ideas have been sparked by the COVID shelter-at-home order. We believe that our new normal has brought us to an understanding of what a home can and should be in the world tomorrow.
