Design/Social Action/Change

Touch "Uniendo Puntos" installation

TOUCH showroom

Aguiniga installation at CAFAM

Tanya Aguiniga

Big City Forum in conjunction with Marine presents Design/Social Action/Change. You are invited to an intimate conversation with a leading contemporary designer, Tanya Aguiniga, and a curator and product developer, Zoe Melo, as they share their work using design as a transformative tool for social, community, and personal interconnectedness.

Thursday, April 28
7 - 9 pm

Marine
A Contemporary Art Salon
716 Marine Street
Santa Monica, CA 90405

www.marineartsalon.com

Featuring:

Tanya Aguiñiga (b. 1978) is a Los Angeles based furniture designer and artist who was raised in Tijuana, Mexico. She holds an MFA in furniture design from Rhode Island School of Design, and is a current faculty member at Otis College of Art and Design. She created various collaborative installations with the Border Arts Workshop, an artists' group that engages the languages of activism and community-based public art. She recently founded the group, Artists Helping Artisans, through which she helps spread knowledge of craft by collaborating with traditional artisans. Her work has been exhibited from Mexico City to Milan and she was named a United States Artists Target Fellow in the field of Crafts and Traditional Arts.

Zoë Melo is a co-founder of TOUCH, a brand that develops, markets and promotes social and sustainable design projects. She also consults designers and brands on a variety of projects worldwide. Over her career, Zoë has collaborated with some of the most talented and renowned designers, photographers and art directors in fashion, art and product design. Her work has received worldwide attention and media coverage. In 2008 Dwell recognized Zoë as a Nice Modernist for her work in social and sustainable design. She has organized and curated important design events and exhibits, such as Inter-Connected, a showcase of Portuguese and Brazilian design during New York Design Week in 2010. She also co-curated "Uniendo Puntos" during Valencia Design Week, showcasing designers and products from Latin America held in the fall of 2010. She was a featured speaker at TEDx Amazonia in November of 2010. Recently she has been implementing the operations of TOUCH in Brazil.