MIGUEL LEIRO

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ABOUT

Miguel Leiro is a designer, curator, and educator based in Madrid who focuses on expanding the cultural value of design. After receiving a bachelor's in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute (New York City) he started a practice in Madrid that specializes in products, creative direction, interiors, and branding. SELECTED CLIENTS

Camper
David Chipperfield Architects
Panoramah!
PIN-UP Magazine
Mast Books
Font Barcelona
Marmoles Covarrubias
SELECTED AWARDS + PRESS

Maison & Objet Rising Talent Award
Rome Prize
AD Best of Spain

El País
Wallpaper Magazine
PIN - UP
AD Spain
Neo2
El Semanal

DesignCurationJournalismSpaces

       

       
HEAVY GAME - 2024 - Marmoles Covarrubias

Marble 
180 x 90 x 75 cm  
132 x 55 x 110 cm


Heavy Game is a collection of furniture and accessories in stone based on the concept of modularity. Drawing inspiration from children's games, various types of objects can be created from two modules, ranging from benches to coffee tables. With the Heavy Game collection, the aim is to provide a system that allows for contextualized and customized solutions to be developed.

          AD RPOP ROLLER -  2024 - Camper

Aluminium and PVC
30 x 50 x 15 cm


As part of the 4 day workshop with CAMPER as part of the ´Pelotas´30th anniversary. The Ad Prop Roller is Inspired by the unmistakable sole of the CAMPER ´Pelotas´ shoe. Markings on the floor mark both a route and a history and as it is the anniversary of Pelotas I thought to create this object that helped in the making of new histories, through the act of painting instead of walking. Thus, this roller acts as an advertisement tool but also a cheerful way of paying homage to the brand's legacy. With it, you can indicate the direction towards which to walk.

        LECTUS - 2023

Hand knit wool upholstery, nylon and tinted pine wood
180 x 85 x 51 cm


Lectus is a daybed made from tinted pine wood, nylon and a knitted
custom-designed upholstery. It derives its name from the Roman lectus, a couch used when receiving guests at the Triclinium.

This design interprets the daybed as an elevation from the floor, requiring its own architecture and pavement in order to sustain weight. From this, Miguel Leiro has collaborated with textile designer Ines Quezada to develop a custo upholstery derived from roman mosaics and flooring.

        DORIC CHOP - 2023

Onyx and plexiglass
40 x 38 x 16 cm


DORIC CHOP is a decagon (10 sided) lamp designed to function as an ony and plexiglass light-box. It can be placed either on the floor or above a credenza or large table.

As the name implies, the lamp takes reference from the classical geometry integrated in architecture up until today. In this case, the lamp alludes to the ruin of a column, commonly found at archaeological sites. This nostalgic yet playful hint helps us to understand the lamp as the fruit of a translation fro a derelict architectural element to that of a functional object.

In the Triclinium, lighting was supplied by terracotta lanterns, held in place by bronze ̈candelabrum ̈, translated to lamp stands. The Doric Chop design plays onto this notion by interrelating the image of the lamp stand with the column, but sliced.

        RELIQUARY - 2021 

Tinted Pine Wood
54 x 31 x 83 cm


A storage-sideboard piece inspired by the religious container object commonly understood as reliquary.

The object is made up of storage spaces of approximately 30 centimeters, in which one can decide to store either their valuable objects or most banal possessions. Thus, this piece of furntiture can be understood as both an exhibitor or storage unit.

This design is the result of a formal and conceptual exercise regarding the objects that surround us and the relationships that can be established with our own belongings through furniture.

        3 x 3 ROOM DIVIDER - 2020 - Panoramah!

Anodized Aluminum and Brass
170 x 35 x 190 cm


This room divider design is result of a brieifing from Panoramah!, an award-winning swiss window brand specialized in aluminum casement systems. They challenged a select group of designers to reinterpret their materials in order to develop an exclusive furniture collection for their showrooms.

3, a sacred number, can be interpreted as a generato of construction systems, both material an meaning. With this in mind, the articulation of a new screen will be based on this digit to propose both new way of showing the material possibilities of aluminum (cut, bent and anodized) to generate
new interpretations around how to use this object to articulate a space.

        STACKABLE OBJECT - 2019
 
Estremoz white marble & Guatemala green marble  
10 x 20 x 13 cm - 20 x 20 x 13 cm


This object reimagines LEGO blocks using stone, blending playfulness with the physical and visual weight of stone. Designed during Miguel Leiro's time at the Spanish Academy in Rome, it draws inspiration from the Roman fascination with modularity, scalability, and robustness. Its perforations and surface treatments allow for modularity, with features ranging from full openings to milled conic shapes that enable various uses and configurations.

        RESORTE - 2019 - LOVISUAL Festival

Stainless Steel
90 x 200 x 90 cm


For the Lovisual festival in Logroño Spain, I was briefed to intervene the 'Tobiana' butcher shop through an addition to its exterior space attached to the premises. The design of a new bench pays homage to the industry and materiality of the food industry, stainless steel. Through this material, a curved tube spring comes to life, resembling a spiral ‘chorizo’. The intervention is designed so that the public can use it as a bench and maybe even as a bicycle rack. This double functionality aims to  entice a sense of doubt in the viewer.  

       
TALKING HEADS  -  2017

Granite
Piece A 125 x 104 x 100
Piece B 175 x 80 x 100


Is an outdoor bench design, suitable for both public and private use. It is intended to be manufactured in modules, where each part can function in isolation or in unison with another. Each piece is cut from a solid block of granite with a diamond wire saw. It’s design is meant to take advantage of this machine process, reducing to a maximum the amount of hand work.

Once set up, the design provides flexibility to its users. The sculptural appearance is backed by a series of different functional possibilities. These can be that of sitting, laying, resting objects upon, viewing,etc…

                

                   
DUPLA  - 2016 

Oak wood and stainless steel
22 x 52 x 28 cm opened
22 x 52 x 7 cm closed


On one side, it is a robust table made of Galician oak that serves as a cutting surface; on the other, a foldable stainless steel structure becomes the base for the ham. When the ham leg is not available, the table works as a support and kitchen tool, and it is easy to store. With this design, Leiro aims to bring simplicity and everyday functionality to the ham experience, as well as promote its integration into different spaces. Dupla is a limited edition for the Báltico store-studio in Madrid.

       BRANCH - 2013

Ash wood
60 x 60 x 195 cm


Branch is a coat rack developed by taking advantage of the material's properties. In this case, the dimensions of the pieces and their curvature enable the simple construction of this rack, allowing for all the variations that nature can provide.

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