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Gloria Cortina
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Gloria Cortina
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Gloria Cortina
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Gloria Cortina
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Gloria Cortina
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Gloria Cortina

Cortina creates handcrafted furniture using native Mexican materials such as obsidian, bronze and quartz in a range of colors and textures.

Cortina’s designs are inspired by numerous historical and creative forces, from the ancient Aztecs to the 20th Century Mexican masters Luis Barragan and Mathias Goeritz. From Within will present a series of new and elegant furniture pieces, including coffee and side tables, cabinets and consoles. In addition to her familiar hand-hammered metal work, Cortina will also incorporate cochinilla lacquer, a purple color from the Cochineal insect, and obsidian, a glass-like volcanic rock, once used by the Aztecs for making tools and weapons. Cortina’s work speaks to the historic and cultural ideas of Mexico while remaining distinctively contemporary.

Born in 1972, Cortina holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and aesthetics from the Universidad Iberoamericana, which was followed by a degree in interior design from Parsons The New School for Design. Following her education, Cortina gained experience working under the tutelage of acclaimed architects David Ling in New York City, and Ricardo Legorreta in Mexico City, before going on to form the multidisciplinary design firm A5 Arquitectura with a group of peers. Today, fully dedicated to her interior and furniture design practice through Gloria Cortina Estudio, she provides design services for luxury properties, anchored on her own bespoke furniture and lighting created in collaboration with local artisans and workshops to uphold the utmost standard of quality and design.

About the Artist

Her work expresses ideas and emotions prompted by modernity and myth – ‘a search for the harmony and beauty that can be found in conscious and unconscious imaginings.’ Her designs avoid familiar international styles. The furniture and individual objects that she creates produce very specific shapes and aesthetics – and they are extremely place-sensitive.

Gloria Cortina’s design inspirations range from Mayan artifacts to Cubism, 20th century Modernism, México’s unique Arts and Crafts heritage, and natural and archaeological environments. These, and other sources, enrich her designs, giving them meaning and a uniquely individual character, balancing warmth and refinement.

Her designs flow from an intense interest in the physical, emotional, and creative qualities of spaces and materials. She develops and curates settings that bring together architecture, design, art, and culture in a way that creates place-sensitive atmospheres and aesthetics.

The designs are sensually sophisticated, emotionally engaged, and her beautifully crafted individual pieces have greatly increased international awareness of Mexican culture in contemporary design.

Her work can be found in the permanent collections of international museums like Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, New York, and Museum of Fine Arts, Denver.

Born in Bethesda, Maryland in 1972, Cortina’s design practice is widely seen throughout Mexico and the US.

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