Featured projects
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Trazo - promoting local manufacturing
Bienal Iberoamericana de Diseño 2020 selected piece
Technical trades represent a engine of economic development for Central American citizens in peri-urban areas and intermediate cities.
Trazo, is the representation of a collaborative model between design and technical trade, for job generation through internal production. Evidencing the quality with which the Central American industry can produce design objects, providing economic utility to small companies and workshops, and diversifying its services, also making design visible in the region as a discipline of transformation and development.
Using locally designed and manufactured products to expose the impact of collaboration. In this case, an aluminum lathed retractable pen with a replaceable cartridge & cast micro concrete stand.
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
I-Mountain
Awardee Ein und Zwanzig 2021, World´s Finest Design Talents,German Design Council.
I-Mountain is a coffee dripper for pour over extraction methods.
Inspired by Guatemalan mountainous and volcanic coffee plantations, it is cast with a high-performance polished micro-concrete (terrazzo) and aims to enhance the coffee extraction experience of coffee shops customers.
Project in collaboration with Icoffee Solutions Guatemala
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
VÜ Lamp
As a tribute to active volcanoes in Mesoamerica, Vü is a decorative luminaire with a slim frame of high-performance white micro concrete, hand polished and reinforced with microfibers, incorporating exposed volcanic aggregates in the finish, contrasted with reclaimed Conacaste wood and a warm LED lighting, evoking the luminescence of a crater.
Vü is an object of awareness and an object that remains the thousands of people who live in areas of high risk due to volcanic activity throughout the region.
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Mo Lamp
It is a pendant luminaire cast in low-density gray micro concrete developed by the and designer based on:
An aggregate of crushed waste plastic, cement, sand, and air injector additives.
Exposing through polishing the colors of the plastic aggregate and contrasted with a support of reclaimed conacaste wood lathed by hand.
Mo aims to demonstrate how through materials science and the experimentation of their properties is possible to introduce atypical raw materials for design applications at the same time as being able to provide sustainability to the proposals.
Innovating through unique finishes and textures, developing new materials and processes applied to products with the vision of sustainable scalability and replicability.
Flat Hospital
Flat hospital is an RTA (ready to assemble) furniture design proposal for quick and low-cost response to temporary health centers or hospitals in Guatemala and Central America during the COVID-19 crisis.
In developing countries, hospital infrastructure is often deficient or insufficient for the necessary medical care for its population; in emergencies, these systems with their limited services exceed their capacities. FLAT HOSPITAL aims to be adjunct support to the emergency response. The project aims to be able to transport in flat packaging to different health centers.
MAZE 58.5 mm spresso tamper
This is an FDA food-grade urethane single piece barista tool for 58 millimeters portafilter.
This product is designed to be a heavy duty & low cost barista tamper alternative for beginner baristas and coffee enthusiasts. As well as a long-lasting option for coffee shops.
MÜ
Mü is a collection of grey & white cast concrete contrast, the purpose of the project is to expose the beauty and the design possibilities of the polished and rustic cement-based materials, combining them with teak sustainability certified teak wooden bases
Collaborative projects
Chair concept Design by Manuel Ovalle
Concrete 3D printing research
In the Research & development center of Cementos Progreso in Guatemala, Manuel has investigated and developed 3D models, G-coding & 3D printed pieces with micro concrete and mortars, so as well collaborated with the cement base 3D printable material development, with the purpose of scaling the project to could 3D print housing solutions in Guatemala by 2022.
Rights property Cementos Progreso S.A
Re-Creto
In collaboration with Cementos Progreso S.A
It is an initiative that was born with the intention of revaluing the cement and aggregates discarded from the laboratory tests of CETEC (Technological Center and quality control laboratory of Cementos Progreso). Transforming them through design into high-quality products and lengthening the life cycle of the concrete used, reducing its environmental impact, creating a business model based on sustainability that will generate profits on discarded raw materials, and diversify the Cementos Pregeso market.
Rights property Cementos Progreso S.A
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Design by Manuel Ovalle
Ö Lamp
This luminaire was designed to test experimental high-performance mortars, cast assemblies, and demolding techniques for slim sections with silicone molds.
Rights property Cementos Progreso S.A
Designs by Manuel Ovalle
Design & material development by Manuel Ovalle
Designs by Manuel Ovalle
Designs by Manuel Ovalle
Urban Furniture
In the Research & development center of Cementos Progreso in Guatemala, Manuel has developed urban furniture to test mixes and look for new applications of cement in the local Industrie. Some of them are:
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MOD - Urban Modular furniture
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UHPC Chair - Ultra-high performance concrete
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Hexi - Cladding
Rights property Cementos Progreso S.A