María Camba

The project developed during iAtelier: Delta 21

This project proposes a constructive system based on deltahedra pieces that can be adapted to different scales, from a large lighting installation to a small urban structure. In this project, María Camba has made use of 3D printing and CNC routering to design a series of connectors that allows the joining of different elements to build a polyhedral structure.

Check the video of iAtelier workshop here!

Meet the maker

Craftswoman, architect, and anthropology student. Currently working with paper and my hands.

Previously, I carried out my profession as an architect collaborating in architecture studios, developing projects in Madrid and New York, as well as Galicia, where I specialized together with César Portela in the recovery of Landscape and Territory, among which the Master Plan of the Cape Finisterre should be highlighted.

One day, almost by chance, I made a piñata and soon I realized that this object meant unleashing a thousand things that I have always liked and had never known how to channel into a single object. Models, tissue paper, geometrizing forms of nature, folklore or even ephemeral installations. . . All that and much more goes into these small artifacts but, without a doubt, the most important thing is that they are elements capable of generating joy around them and that gives them the category of almost magical.

Unfairly undervalued in our country, I try to change that perception in people through careful design and inserting them in events and institutions linked to cultural creation.

I am currently developing an investigation in search of the origins of piñatas in Europe that will end with the publication of a book thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture.

What interested you in the iAtelier programme and did it meet with your expectations?

I was especially interested in knowing different profiles of artisans, and their way of conceiving their profession and the business.

I also wanted to introduce digital manufacturing techniques in my project at a time that, due to the Covid 19 crisis, had suffered a sudden and abrupt stop.

The crisis can be seen as an opportunity to never stop learning, especially in difficult times.

The world needs more than ever handmade products but above all, with the heart, and full of confetti !!!

How will participating in iAtelier influence your future practice?

iAtelier has served to introduce digital fabrication into my work, totally manual to date, where I only used a cutter and scissors. I hope this allows me to develop new projects in parallel to the one I am currently doing with piñatas, lamps, as well as and other objects out of paper.

I hope that Delta 21, the project that I am carrying out at the iAtelier, will finally allow me to consolidate my main interests in fields as disparate as architecture or anthropology, leading them to the crafts work. With the added value that it manages to combine craftsmanship with digital manufacturing.

My 5 top tips that I have learnt on this journey:

1.The important thing is not how you start a project but how you finish it and, above all, have fun in the process.

2. Meeting other artisans always gives you new and enriching points of view.

3. Any time is a good time to learn new things.

4. Open your mind to be able to learn in all the processes that you are developing, especially in the failed ones.

5. Be aware of our own limitations and try to turn them into strengths. Sometimes the worst ends up being the best.