Atelier · About the house
Atelier
CORTE is an imagined house of collectible design in Mexico City. It exists to test one idea: that the most honest way to design an object is from its section — the line you would see if you sawed it in half.
Fig. 1 — BÓVEDA in section: each layer hatched in its own material
Fig. 2 — The same pieces, built and in place
01
The section
Every piece begins as one closed outline drawn at full scale. Inside it we draw the layers — skin, filling, frame — each with its own hatch. Only when the section works do we choose the operation that turns it into an object: extrude, revolve or sweep.
02
Materials from five regions
The collection is designed around Mexican materials and the crafts that shape them: recinto and cantera stone from the Valley of Mexico and Querétaro; Tecali onyx from Puebla; hand-raised copper in the tradition of Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán; wool spun and dyed with cochineal and indigo in the manner of Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca; and tzalam hardwood. In this concept no partnership with a real workshop is claimed.
03
Editions and series
Pieces marked Edition are numbered and limited (12 to 36 examples). Pieces marked Series are made to order without a cap. Lead times, prices and editions on this site are illustrative.
04
Honest about the images
Each photograph on this site was generated from the piece’s master model and checked against it, so geometry, part counts and joints stay consistent across every view. Nothing was photographed in a real studio; nothing claims to have been.
Process · five steps, six to twenty weeks
How it is made
01
Draw the section
Week 1
Every piece starts as one closed outline drawn at full scale on paper. Each layer gets its own hatch, and the red line marks where we will cut it open on the site and on the sheet.
02
Cut the profile
Weeks 2–4
The outline becomes a plywood template. Tzalam, stone and steel are cut against it, so the profile of the drawing and the profile of the object are the same line.
03
Shape the material
Weeks 3–10
Copper is raised by hand over a stake, stone is turned and honed, wool is spun and dyed. This is the longest step, and the reason lead times differ from piece to piece.
04
Assemble and finish
Final 2–3 weeks
Joints are pinned, wedged or hooked, never hidden: the leather of Dovela hangs from its stretchers, the beam of Dintel sits on two tenons. Then oil, wax or seal by material.
05
Check and crate
Last week
Each piece is measured against its sheet, signed, and crated with felt and blocking. The technical sheet travels with it, folded in the crate.
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About this case
Research & brand
Market study, naming, positioning, identity system
Product design
13 pieces, parametric master models, specifications
Image production
Model-locked photography generated and checked per piece
Experience
Framer site, CMS catalogue, WebGL section explorer, demo cart