Primal-forms is a collection of handcrafted furniture, lighting, and objects conceptualized and created by Archana Menon. The collection made its initial debut at the 2021 ICFF through Wanted Design Manhattan’s Launch Pad, where Archana Menon was honored to be selected as one of six emerging designers featured that year. Following this recognition, the collection was also showcased at Design Miami, one of the most prestigious global platforms for collectible design.
In 2023, Archana Menon was chosen as one of six BIPOC designers by IDSA to present the collection once again at ICFF. Notably, Seat I from the collection has been permanently incorporated into the art collection at SCAD Atlanta.
The collection emerged from an exploration of modern design norms, particularly their limitations in embracing diverse processes and inclusive design. By engaging with alternative ideologies, the works of select artists, and her own cultural identity, Primal-forms introduces a pluralistic design language. It challenges the dominant Eurocentric approach in contemporary design, advocating for a broader perspective that integrates diverse cultural and historical contexts into furniture design.
For the Pluriverse.
Our understanding of design has deepened and grown increasingly complex over the years. As design get deeply intertwined with our social practices, there’s a need to pay attention to the potential cognitive effects of object culture and question the accepted ways of making things. The contemporary design world reveals a dominant Eurocentric approach that has often overlooked the importance of heterogeneity of process, practices and materials. primal-forms aims to step aside from the dominant western repertoire of design to a more pluralistic approach, that takes inspiration from the progenitors of design history across a multitude of historical and cultural context
Towards a state of primal-ness
Material objects are as much a part of the weave of our lives as our bodies are. The world is constantly in a battle for our attention making it difficult to be in one moment. We find ourselves overwhelmed, overstimulated, distracted and impatient. Our body and mind are constantly combating these disturbances causing us to be less attuned of our surrounding and ourselves. In a world that is packed with an abundance of frills and multifunctionality, simplicity and a state of primal-ness can be more captivating and facilitate awareness, clarity and moments of reflection, connection and joy.