Interview about Fractal 9 Sculptural Shelf, winner of the A' Furniture Design Award 2025
Fractal 9 is a modular sculptural furniture piece that merges art and mathematics to reflect the balance and harmony of fractal nature. Its analysis through the Digital Root reveals a profound connection with the square, the golden ratio, and the number 9. Crafted from sustainable materials, its design adapts seamlessly to various spaces, functioning as a bookshelf, display surface, or sculptural piece. Beyond form and function, Fractal 9 serves as a vehicle for artistic and symbolic expression, integrating order, balance, and unity into its composition.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsThe pattern of the number 9 is no trivial matter. It runs far deeper than it may seem at first glance. It may begin as a simple numerical curiosity, but as you follow its trail and find it again and again across different systems, it reveals itself as a structural logic that runs through the natural order.The initial idea of a piece of furniture was transformed when I discovered that this pattern lived in its structure: from the square as its basic module, to the grid as its structural base, the number of modules, the radial angles, the measurements, and its connection to the golden ratio. The model stopped being just an aesthetic, functional object and became Fractal 9: a vehicle that invites observation, learning, and a questioning of the implications of this structural logic.How is it possible that we are not talking about a pattern so simple, so deep, and so beautiful, when it’s right in front of us?
This versatile approach emerged when I discovered the model’s connection to the Fibonacci spiral. Fractal 9 fits perfectly within the first two squares of the sequence, defined by the values 1 and 1, which revealed that its modular nature allowed it to split naturally into two equivalent units. This versatility wasn’t imposed. It emerged from the structure itself.That’s where the coherence between form and function becomes clear: when the design can adapt to different spaces and needs without disrupting its internal balance. Form doesn’t serve an arbitrary function, and function doesn’t limit form. They grow together, as parts of the same language.
My background in visual communication taught me to observe how each element builds a message, even in silence. In this case, the FSC-certified wood of the modules reinforces the concept by offering a connection to nature. The transparent acrylic, in turn, allows for an almost invisible assembly system that preserves the structural purity of the design.Transparency is not just a visual effect. It’s a statement: what holds it up is in plain sight, there is nothing to hide. Like the number 9 pattern, which often goes unnoticed even when it’s right there. Both materials follow a logic of respect for the environment, the user, and the concept. What is seen, what is touched, and what is sensed are designed to exist in balance.
The entire process unfolded organically, allowing everything to fall into place at the right time. The turning point came when I discovered that applying the digital root to the total sum of the interior angles of all regular polygons consistently revealed the number 9.This pattern struck me and sparked my curiosity. I then analyzed the first model using the same formula and realized that the pattern was also present in its structure. That changed everything. It gave the design a new meaning and allowed me to establish the conceptual principles that guided a new stage: evolving its assembly system, its aesthetics, and its functionality to align everything with the new concept.At that moment, I understood that this design and its message were not entirely mine, because they are a doorway to a knowledge that needs to be shared.That certainty became the impulse to write The Number of God?, a book in which I delve into the findings behind Fractal 9 and explore their implications for both natural and technological order through a mathematical, symbolic, and human lens.
The first prototype was built as a single piece. The modules were fixed directly onto a wooden base shaped like the structure, which ensured solidity but completely limited its modular quality.The goal in the next phase was to develop an assembly system that would allow the design to be dismantled into its minimal parts, divide the Integral Unit into two Essential Units, and ease packaging without affecting its visual harmony. It was also essential for the system to remain invisible to preserve the purity of its form.During that stage, I spent time imagining possible mechanisms that could meet all the requirements without disrupting the visual balance. I sketched configurations, tested full-scale pieces, explored fitting options and hidden fastening mechanisms. Each trial helped me better understand the material’s limits, the weight of each module, and the type of force the system would need to withstand without altering the form. It was a process of trial and error guided by intuition, structural logic, and the pursuit of visual clarity.Among the alternatives I explored, one prototype featured an electromagnetic joint system. Although it was not viable in terms of strength, the combination of that experiment with the first prototype helped me arrive at the current modular solution: a mechanical system that is simple, efficient, strong, and visually imperceptible. It meets all the proposed objectives, balancing structural integrity with refined aesthetics.
Applying a quantitative approach made it possible to reveal a structural logic that wasn’t immediately visible. By applying the digital root to the model’s structure, an internal coherence emerged in its composition, a coding system that arranges the pieces and balances the whole with precision.From a functional perspective, this method helped evolve the modular assembly system, making it more versatile and efficient. From an artistic point of view, it brought a layer of symbolic depth that reinforced the overall concept.Fractal 9 thus became a piece where science and art do not oppose but nourish each other. It gave shape to an object with a clear identity.
The connection is not only symbolic; it is structural and conceptual. The design itself is a fractal: its modules and the internal number-9 pattern follow the principle of self-similarity, where a basic structure repeats at different scales to generate more complex forms.When I look at our surroundings, everything in nature seems to follow this same principle, creating systems that optimize resources and maximize efficiency through harmonious relationships among their components. Reflecting on this reality made me aware of Fractal 9’s philosophical dimension.If nature shows us that it operates from a logic of order, balance, and unity, where every element has a purpose within a larger system to keep the whole in equilibrium, what has happened to us? Why have we disconnected from the natural order to which we also belong?
Each discipline has taught me to see from a different place. Design helped me understand how an idea can become structure, function, and experience. Photography taught me to observe light, contrast, and composition. Tattooing made me more aware of process: listening, designing, and executing with precision on a living surface.That entire journey awakened in me a sensitivity to harmony and beauty that expresses itself naturally in Fractal 9. Its aesthetic language wasn’t defined by a style; it emerged as a coherent expression of the concept. And that’s where its identity lies: a serene reflection of the truth it carries within.
I see this achievement as the support I needed to take Fractal 9 to the next level of industrial development and fulfill its purpose of being shared. It has also given me the confidence to keep growing in this new stage as a furniture designer.In fact, I already envision a whole family of furniture inspired by Fractal 9, where functional art becomes a medium to continue exploring the relationship between structure, harmony, and consciousness.
The first prototype, a personal project, was built in 2016, and the turning point came in December 2019, when I discovered the mathematical pattern within its structure. In 2020, the design phase began to evolve the model and align it with the new concept. In 2022, I registered on the A’ Design Award website and set myself the goal of participating. By 2023, I had resolved the assembly system, and in 2024, I began working on the documentation requested by the competition.While managing my other activities, I kept developing Fractal 9 in silence, until it reached the conceptual, technical, and symbolic maturity that was recognized with the A’ Design Award 2025.
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