Photography by Ulrike Blasor

The unimaginable
is there to be imagined.

~~ J.M. Coetzee

THE DESIGNER WHO LOVES PALMS

Palms embody the sultriness of the tropics and can be found
throughout Puerto Rico. Look at them long enough and if
you are a young designer you might suddenly get inspired.

That's the case of Alexandre Gradin who turned to the
Puerto Rican Royal Palm as the source material for a
line of simple but useful bowls that he makes in different
sizes and can be put to many different uses.

Courtesy of A. Gradin

Gradin uses the woody leaf sheaths of the palm (yagua)
as his raw material for the bowls which he fashions using
a special mold.

Right now he is focussing on the small-size version. These
small bowls that look like vessels that might sail away were you
to place them on a passing sea wave are also reminiscent of
origami, Japan's gentle art of folding paper, but don't be fooled into
believing this is a delicate object as its organic material is
sturdy and was once used in Puerto Rico in the construction
of rural dwellings.

"The Yagua bowl is an economic, eco-friendly, biodegradable,
reusable and very versatile product," says the designer on his
website which offers information on other attractive products
produced by his company, 10 Gradin.

Courtesy of A. Gradin

The line concentrates on a few but well-crafted items nicely suited
for the home: an attractive lamp with wooden base, steel stem and
an acrylic lampshade with a pretty scalloped edge; a minimalistic
coffee table (wood choices for the top include mahogany, red oak,
maple or blue mahoe); a wood cutting board shaped as a painter's
palette and fashioned out of teak or eucalyptus wood; and a very
distinctive arm chair in a neo-art-deco style made to order out of
birch and cedar plywood.

Courtesy of A.Gradin

A graduate of the School of Plastic Arts in old San Juan, Gradin holds
a regular job at an engineering firm but devotes his week-ends to
working on his designs which he also exhibits at local design fairs.
He is part of a growing number of talented young men and women
who are finding their voice through design and starting businesses to
promote their distinctive aesthetic for the home and other areas of life.

In his work, Gradin said he seeks ways of echoing nature through
organic curves and shapes suggestive of flowers. His is a "minimal
but functional aesthetic in which almost pure geometric forms
predominate." Gradin likes working with local woods, stainless steel,
plastics, glass, textiles or renewable materials (such as the yagua)
and creating interesting combinations of these materials.

As a designer,  "I want to create awareness that local products
can be competitive by adding value to design, quality of materials
and of construction."

10gradin.com

There are nights when
the wolves are silent
and only the moon howls.

~~ George Carlin

☛ A simple tip: Sifter to the rescue

A sifter is used to lighten flour that is too packed down or clumpy.
But what if you don't have one readily at hand, what to do? Not to
worry as a fine mesh strainer will do the job just fine, which goes
to show that something that does two jobs for the price of one is
definitely a good thing to have in the kitchen.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

© 2017 LORRAINE BLASOR, all rights reserved