After high school, Marcos Altgelt spent a year in New Zealand picking kiwifruit in Te Puke, followed by similar gigs in Tauranga and Hastings. The experience, he says laughing, “taught me endurance!” Back in Buenos Aires, Altgelt joined Segundo Denegri and Tasio Picollo – friends from architecture school – to establish Ries, their furniture-making company.
Their first collection, called Alpina, “looks like it was made in the 60s or 50s and we like those subtle and simple elements. The challenging part was to make this look like it has continuity,” says Segundo. Alpina is simple, deconstructed and combines a slightly retro aesthetic with a very contemporary take on industrial materials. Welding points are visible, the steel grid used for back supports and seats (some of which is finished in copper, or powder coated) is a building material. Although it feels slightly like a concept rather than a finished product, it is an impressive first collection.