Clara Porset: butaque

Abstract

Clara Porset is one of the most important Latin American designers of the twentieth century. Though born in Matanzas, Cuba, Porset spent most of her life in Mexico, and throughout her career as a designer, writer, and teacher, she challenged social conventions during a time that offered few opportunities for the professional development of women. Her designs bridge the functional rationalism of modernism with traditional craft techniques and traditional materials, resulting in a novel type of production. Her Butaque Chair, recently acquired by The Museum of Modern Art in 2021, is the only object designed by a Latin American currently on view at MoMA. In this latest volume of the MoMA 1 on One series, scholar and curator Ana Elena Mallet explores Proset's idea that the Butaque is a "living design" and broadens our understanding of Latin American design.