New York, @pangilai
From the moment we stepped into Mupangilaï’s Brooklyn brownstone to photograph it for our book, How to Live With Objects, we knew we were working with a next-level talent. Mupangilaï’s sensitivity to texture, material, and the weight of her own cultural upbringing — she was born in Belgium to European and African parents — were already palpable in her living space. Our hunch was confirmed when she released her first-ever furniture collection with Superhouse earlier this year: seven pieces made from traditional Congolese materials like teak, rattan, and banana fiber — our favorite being an armoire whose door resembles an African shield and whose limb-like appendage calls to mind a stiletto — whose delicate, feminine aesthetic couldn’t belong to anyone else. 

What is American design to you, and what excites you about it?

America is a diverse nation, influenced by an influx of people from all corners of the world, and the design scene here is absolutely reflective of that. Different cultural influences and aesthetics have prevailed over the years, so it’s tough to say what’s characteristically American. However, what really excites me about the time we are living in as designers and creatives is that we can merge complex design with practicality even though design can often have the appearance of being non-functional. It’s this playful duality that reiterates the concept of art/design being subjective and allows design to be interpreted however the viewer or user sees fit.

What are your plans and highlights for the upcoming year?

I still find myself in explorative territory when it comes to this new phase in my career, and I definitely feel as though my work has opened a Pandora’s box. I am excited to continue pursuing and evolving. I’ve also been playing with the idea of a book, combining the aesthetic and educational. A dream would be to work on a commission for a museum with a focus on cultural landscape and the notion of cultural appropriation. I believe there is a much larger conversation to be held on both topics within the design context and industry. The educational aspect of design has also been something that has always interested me and I would like to explore that more. Another dream would be to work on commissions for fashion houses that I admire.

What inspires or informs your work in general?

The main inspiration for my work is the cultural landscape. I wanted my body of work to mirror the ambiguity and interpretation of my cultural identity. Therefore, the title of my recent solo show ‘Hue I Am/Hue Am I’ and more so the word ‘HUE’ refers to the aspect of colors and gradation of shades which speak to the attribution of my heritage, the discernment of cross-culture and the dependence of ancestral storytelling. The complexity of each piece in my furniture series reads and reveals parts of my cultural landscape and heritage which coincides with the narrative of the work. There is no one specific message I intended to share with my body of work because interpretation is always subjective. However, I do want to emphasize the complexity of our identities as individuals and the endless lineages that come with that. I hope viewers relate, whether that’s on a cultural level or not, our identities are so unique to us that it naturally evokes conversation.