Parenchyma by Kauani
Born from an intimate study of xerophytic plants endemic to the American continent, Kauani’s knitted lighting creates a new language that translates botanical expressions through textiles. Cacti are resilient beings, adapted to extreme climates; unlike other plants, cacti perform photosynthesis at night, as during the day they close their stomata to conserve liquids and nutrients. So it is in the darkness that they spring into action. They owe the uniqueness of their volumes to their ability to retain water. They can go long periods without it; their shape acts like a bellows, swelling when there is excess and shrinking when there is a shortage. The exhibition reflects these logics, interpreting and adapting them to new material and formal expressions. This new language echoes the light that these beings use to grow and live: an inverted light that is activated here in the dark. Stems, spines, areoles, buds, scales, stamens—these are the words that resonate in Kauani’s proposal, a specific project whose leitmotif is the thorny threads that collect liquids, the volumes inflated or deflated by scaly textures. In the cast of biologies that Kauani proposes, we observe the rhythms of the spines in their different densities and materialities; their tight areoles that become soft silks; their pointed, threatening fences. Proposal designed by Inés Llasera and textile co-design with Sofia Julia Peragón. The collection explores the way light interacts with texture, creating pieces that feel both sculptural and alive. The pieces on display explore the relationship between traditional craftsmanship and modern technologies, integrating knitted designs that evoke plant forms and highlight the beauty of patterns that are vernacular, organic, and unique.
