The colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, in central Mexico, has been graced with a new design exhibition space. Set in a refurbished 380 sq m space near the historic centre, The Garage (a former car park, as the name suggests) is an initiative by the adjacent design hotel Dos Casas and launches today with a site-specific installation by French designer Fabien Cappello.
Cappello, who relocated to Mexico City in 2016, has developed a new collection of furniture and objects with the local artisan community, designed to reflect on the modern history of San Miguel de Allende, which was known as a hub for radical artists and thinkers in the mid-20th century. The project celebrates the ‘precious act of doing nothing’, inviting visitors and hotel guests to engage with the space with no other ambition than to relax and reflect.
Installation view of 'Chambre With a Vista'
‘I never do exhibitions, I do things that can be used,’ Cappello tells us as we visit the gallery. ‘When you create interaction, that’s when you create space.’ In recent years, the RCA-graduate has made a name for himself with a playful style that mixes bright colours with modernist references. Wallpaper* collaborated with the designer for an intervention in Miami, which referenced Mexico City’s municipal street furniture while challenging the perception between private and public sphere – a central preoccupation in his work.
Produced hand in hand with some of the finest local craftsmen – who have worked in the region for generations – the installation at The Garage features new objects ranging from coloured-glass lamps, reinterpreted maceta pots, cement-tile loungers and benches, woven-straw stools, and wool rugs, handwoven on looms. Each piece is unique and individual with a life of its own – when the exhibition closes, some will find a permanent home at the hotel, while other designs will be produced commercially.
‘To me, Fabien’s work is like a kaleidoscope,' says Alberto Laposse, founder of Dos Casas hotel. ‘His work reflects on what’s happening around him.’ The Mexico City-based architect (he designed the space of The Garage, which boasts a polished-concrete floor, cement walls and factory-like ceiling) came across Capello’s work at group exhibition ‘L’Esprit du Bauhaus’ at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris last year. He immediately called him and offered him the opening exhibition at his hotel’s new gallery.
‘This is one of the most important projects of my career so far,’ asserts Cappello. ‘Mexico has had such a significant impact on me, and it’s the first time that my work is visible at that scale since I’ve moved here.’ The installation is, hopefully, one of many Mexican iterations to come.
Cappello designed the jars and glasses specially for the installation, pictured here with candleholders and ashtrays that he designed for ceramic company Meraki
The French designer often uses hand-forged copper for his pieces, such as in this sconce and stained-glass light
The exhibition celebrates the 'precious act of doing nothing'
For the lounger, Cappello used locally sourced, coloured cement tiles, mesquite and hard wood
Working in a ceramic workshop, Cappello etched his patterns onto plants pots
INFORMATION
‘Chambre with a Vista’ is on view until autumn. For more information, visit the Dos Casas Hotel website
ADDRESS
The Garage
Dos Casas Hotel
Umarán 42
San Miguel de Allende
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictionsThe studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
-
‘Nothing just because it’s beautiful’: Performance artist Marina Abramović on turning her hand to furniture designMarina Abramović has no qualms about describing her segue into design as a ‘domestication’. But, argues the ‘grandmother of performance art’ as she unveils a collection of chairs, something doesn’t have to be provocative to be meaningful
-
A local’s guide to Los Angeles by defiant artist Fawn RogersOregon-born, LA-based artist Fawn Rogers gives us a personal tour of her adopted city as it hosts its sixth edition of Frieze
-
Six hotels where you’ll find the winter sun this FebruaryFrom intimate seaside inns to lush tropical resorts, here are six Wallpaper*-approved winter sun escapes
-
Vipp Todos Santos wins Wallpaper* Design Award 2025A new guesthouse from the Danish design brand brings a Scandinavian aesthetic to a desert location in Mexico
-
Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025: meet the travel winners transcending destinationsDiscover the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025 travel winners – the year’s places to stay, dine, drink and join – and watch our video to find out why they won
-
Take a trip to San Miguel de Allende, the Mexican City attracting a flourishing creative crowdSan Miguel de Allende is home to a bold young crowd of talent that’s thriving off the city’s brightly-hued heritage
-
Six brilliant bars for your 2025 celebrations, hot off the Wallpaper* travel deskWallpaper’s most-read bar reviews of the year can't be wrong: here’s inspiration for your festive and new year plans, from a swanky Las Vegas lounge to a minimalist London drinking den
-
The world’s most enticing new hotel openingsExplore the best new hotels in the world, from a bijou addition to the London hotel scene to a lush safari adventure in South Africa
-
Ennea Hotel on Mexico’s Oaxaca coast pays homage to the region’s artisanal legacyEnnea Hotel’s warm interiors are dressed in authentic Mexican materials, thanks to architects at Jaque Studio alongside designers Comité de Proyectos
-
Alexander Hotel marries European hospitality with sleek Mexican designAlexander Hotel, located inside Mexico City’s Torre Virreyes, heralds 26 light-filled suites conceived by architect Daniel Álvarez
