Casa FOA Design Market

Casa FOA is, in their own words, "a space for the development of creativity; a meeting place where designers, architects, decorators and landscape artists, who are selected for their talent and prestige, share their journey and discoveries with the public."  This year the location is an old industrial market-style warehouse in Barracas, the exhibition runs for just over a month and raises money for the Fundación Oftalmológica Argentina Jorge Malbran, who work in the medical field of Ophthalmology.


The exhibition is reminiscent of the Milan Design festival in Italy, with the idea of showcasing all things cutting-edge and the local trendsetters of the design industry.  There were some interesting things going on, but overall my expectations were a lot higher.  When I first arrived in Argentina I thought there was quite an innovative design industry and there were many things that impressed me, such as the clothing and textile designer Juana de Arco or some of the designers represented in the museum shop Tienda Malba.


But rather than a lot of innovative installations I found it to be a showcase for these designers to find new customers, basically where people with a lot of money go to comission furniture for their apartments.  There were some aesthetically pleasing things going on, and of course the idea is to showcase Argentina´s creative talent and raise money for a charity.  However for me the standout feature was the location in Barracas, an old industrial suburb of Buenos Aires.  When everything design related usually happens in Palermo, it´s nice to have a change of scenery.