Designer · Mexico · 1895–1981
Clara Porset
Clara Porset (1895–1981) – Cuban-Mexican furniture and interior designer, author of office furniture series for IRGSA, lecturer in industrial design at UNAM.
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About the designer
- Lifetime
- 1895–1981
- Country
- Mexico
Clara Porset was born on 25 May 1895 in Matanzas, Cuba, and died on 17 May 1981 in Mexico City, where she had lived since 1935. From 1925, she studied in New York (Columbia University, New York School of Interior Decoration), and from 1928 to 1931 she studied in Paris with Henri Rapin, also attending classes at École des Beaux-Arts, the Sorbonne and the Louvre. In 1934, she stayed at Black Mountain College, where she encountered Josef and Anni Albers.
In 1940, together with her husband, Xavier Guerrero, she entered the MoMA competition “Organic Design in Home Furnishings”, presenting furniture made using agave and referring to the traditional butaque seat; in publications, the design was attributed to Guerrero. In the 1950s, she designed the E (wooden) and H (metal) series of office furniture for Industrias Ruiz Galindo (IRGSA). In 1952, she curated the exhibition “Arte en la vida diaria”, organised by INBA.
From 1969, she lectured in the industrial design programme at Escuela Nacional de Arquitectura UNAM; a library and an award were named after her. She received the INBA Gold Medal (1971) and a silver medal at the Milan Triennale.
Key designs
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Competition furniture (with Xavier Guerrero)
MoMA competition “Organic Design in Home Furnishings”, agave and butaque form
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Series E
wooden office furniture
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Series H
metal office furniture
