Mondragon Unibertsitatea hosts the HAU exhibition of traditional Basque objects, won by three students of Industrial Design Engineering
Mondragon Unibertsitatea hosts the HAU exhibition of traditional Basque objects, won by three students of Industrial Design Engineering
Mondragon Unibertsitatea hosts the HAU exhibition of traditional Basque objects, won by three students of Industrial Design Engineering
The Higher Polytechnic School will be hosting from today to 22 November the works selected in the 3rd edition of the HAU 2019 contest, which aims to update the design of a traditional object present in Basque culture. The piece selected on this occasion is the Zizeilu, a functional piece of furniture that was placed against the wall and near the fire, a kind of elongated bench with a high continuous backrest from the ground, with a folding table in the middle.
The HAU Basque traditional object design contest is organised by Bitamine Faktoria in collaboration with the San Telmo Museum, Mondragon Unibertsitatea, the Aranzadi Science Society, and the Ramírez i Carrillo design studio. All agents attended the presentation that took place on the university’s Arrasate campus and will be open to the public in the hallway on the 1st floor of Building 1 of Iturripe.
Among other items, the exhibition will be showing ZURA, the winner of the contest, developed by Uxue Aiztimuño, Amaia Baztarrica and Olatz Mandiola, students of the Degree in Engineering in Industrial Design and Product Development of the Higher Polytechnic School. It will also host a selection of the most outstanding works.
The winning group responsible for ZURA received an economic prize of €600 and a 5-day internship at the Ramírez i Carrillo design studio (Barcelona) with all expenses paid. In addition, the EAKO project, presented by Aizea Fernández de Lapena, another student of the Higher Polytechnic School of Mondragon, received a special mention for the polyhedral nature proposed by its design and its connection to the common language of current homes.
Zizeilu
It is a functional piece of furniture that was placed near the fire. Most pieces date from the 16th and 17th centuries, although they did not stop being manufactured until the 19th century. It consists of an elongated bench in pine, chestnut or poplar wood. It was placed along a wall and had a continuous backrest from the ground in order to protect from air currents and prevent the heat of the fire from dispersing. One of the peculiarities of this furniture is the folding table that is attached to the backrest by hinges. The table also features a leg for support. The etymological origin of the word comes from Latin subselliu (m): sub (low) + sellium (chair), having many variants in Basque depending on the region: zizailu, zizilu, zizilo, txisilu, or txitxelu, among others.