Explore local metaphors to solve universal everyday-life problems.
Otras Metáforas is an academic design project that presents a fresh and localised approach to solving everyday problems through product design. The project encourages students from four Mexican campuses (Mexico City, Guadalajara, Querétaro and Monterrey) to explore metaphors drawn from their own environment, overcoming the influence of dominant Western design paradigms. The initiative invites the public to embrace the diversity of their surroundings, reflecting on how everyday life in their local contexts inspires unique and culturally rooted solutions to contemporary design challenges.
The project seeks to empower designers to find inspiration from their own cultural and environmental landscape. By focusing on local and vernacular problem-solving strategies, the project aims to break free from the homogenising effect of global design trends. Instead, students are asked to observe everyday practices and translate them into metaphors that can inform a collection of products. These artefacts will be produced using semi-craft and pre-industrial techniques such as ceramics, joinery or metal casting, ensuring a sustainable and considered approach to design.
BIO
Tecnológico de Monterrey is renowned for fostering creativity, innovation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. With a focus on human-centered approaches, sustainability, and technological integration, the department of Design prepares students to tackle real-world challenges through creative problem-solving. The Design Department at Tec de Monterrey is a hub for aspiring designers committed to shaping the future of design and innovation.