DON NADIE: The Latin American Project at Milano Design Art Week

The design and art collective DON NADIE, founded by Ecuadorian industrial designers Lisandro Carrasco and Mono Alvarado, is presenting its project '1 m² / 1 second' at Milano Design Week. The work, part of the IN BETWEEN collective exhibition within the Fuorisalone circuit, consists of sixteen folded-paper pieces within a cubic meter, each referencing native plant morphology. The project translates the rate of deforestation into a tangible measure of time, with each second representing one square meter of lost forest.

The project marks a significant shift in DON NADIE's practice, which was previously focused on commercial paper-folding applications. Its conceptual foundation was developed during an artistic residency in Ecuador's biodiverse Chocó Andino region, organized by the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. The work bridges art, design, and environmental activism, using materiality and labor-intensive process to create a physical metaphor for ecological destruction, positioning it within the experimental context of a major international design event.