Gloria Cortina for Architectural Digest Magazine

Gloria Cortina‘s New Furniture Line Channels the Mythology of Mexico for Architectural Digest Magazine

When she was 14, Mexican interior designer Gloria Cortina discovered her calling by redecorating her childhood bedroom. First came an Art Deco–tinged scheme in the spirit of Miami Vice, then a floral mash-up of Laura Ashley and Ralph Lauren, and finally full-force classicism, with parchment wall coverings and marquetry-inlaid antiques pilfered from her grandparents’ Arturo Pani–decorated manse. Set atop Mexico City’s tony Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood, that villa now serves as the home base for Cortina’s thriving practice, which ranks among Mexico’s most influential but remains largely unknown north of the border.

This stands to change. Following the release of her 2016 monograph, Gloria Cortina: Mexico (Editorial RM), the designer will have her first furniture exhibition, at Manhattan’s tastemaking Cristina Grajales Gallery. On view from November 3 to December 23, the show includes exquisitely rendered pieces in bronze, obsidian, and quartz. (It will travel to Mexico City’s Galería de Arte Mexicano next year.) Sconces riff on the silhouettes of hummingbirds, a sculptural side table features pyramids stacked tip to tip, and a gleaming bench comprises cantilevered blocks. The pièce de résistance is a cabinet covered in 17 layers of black lacquer and embellished with bronze inlay that mimics the impact of a bullet. Read the full article here