Designer and founder of the studio Fango, Francisco Jaramillo explores in his work the dialogue between the local and the contemporary, craftsmanship and design, tradition and poetic vision. Trained in Medellín and Barcelona, his pieces have been exhibited at international fairs, and he has collaborated with renowned artisan workshops.

In your early years in Medellín, you were already looking at the clouds and imagining shapes. How does that poetic gaze and your work with local materials coexist in your design process today?

That poetic gaze has always been present, and I believe it always will be. Through my pieces, I don’t just want people to find an object, but also the narrative that each piece carries with it. Materials, the social environment, history, and other themes are the starting points for that narrative.

What motivated you to specialize in furniture design, and why did you choose Barcelona and Elisava to pursue it?

I studied Design Engineering, and from the moment I first heard about furniture design, I became passionate about it. In my country, there aren’t many academic programs in design, so I found Elisava’s master’s in furniture design to be the best option to experience the international furniture design scene up close.

Your pieces reveal a deep connection to place. How do you translate the “local” into a contemporary and universal language?

The local is not separate from the contemporary and universal. On the contrary, the local is already a part of the universal.

You’ve worked closely with Colombian artisans and, at the same time, exhibited on international stages. How do those two worlds come together in your practice?

It’s the best opportunity to share what exists in Colombia. In a way, my country lost much of its identity after colonization, and it’s now up to us, its people, to create and tell the story of what exists today.

What does it mean to you to design from Latin America without replicating Western formulas?

I’m not sure if we can talk about “formulas” in my work; I think my design process is more intuitive — guided by how to communicate the project and shaped by my aesthetic tastes.

What are you currently exploring, through Fango or more personally? Where is your creative energy going these days?

Lately, I’ve been thinking about what it means to live abroad, to migrate… I left my country two years ago to settle in Barcelona. From a social perspective, I find myself questioning what it’s like to leave one’s homeland for different reasons, both positive and negative.

That’s why I undertook my first project with Florentine Kitchen Knives, which precisely addresses what happens in spaces like the kitchen, where different cultures intersect, giving rise to pieces that explore both origin and fusion.

 Soon, I’ll be launching new pieces that continue this reflection on the social and adaptive processes that humans go through when moving to a new environment.