RITUAL

ʁituˈaːl

How can an old tradition such as the Mate ritual relate with knew technologies, without losing its function?

In this project I decided to analyze this South American tradition, looking at it from a new angle.

My goal was to find a new design language, through new materials and forms, to describe this old custom, without changing anything to the ritual itself.

Mate is a symbol of friendship and fellowship. It is the first thing you are supposed to offer a guest. Something you share with other people. As a matter of fact, during the ritual, everybody drinks from the same cup, sharing the straw.

I have mainly worked with experiments, trying new techniques such as 3d modelling and printing.

I also tried out new materials and sometimes had to accept things not turning out as I expected them.

I decided to tear apart the tools necessary for the Mate ritual, the calabaza (the cup) & the bombilla (the filtering straw), searching for a new and different way to combine them.

What came out, in the end, is a series of four handmade ceramic cups, each one unique in shape and colour, corresponding to four 3D printed filters. In addition, a simple glass straw, to be inserted in the filters.

The clean and geometrical structure of the filters contrasts with the organic shapes of the ceramics, giving a new face to this thousand- year-old ritual.