Jorge Penadés

Jorge Penadés is a designer and creative director based in Madrid, Spain, where he undertakes a broad range of projects from clients who appreciate his rigorous approach to research, materiality, structure and aesthetics. Penadés studied design in ESDAP (Barcelona) and IED (Madrid). During  time spent working in Eindhoven, he was influenced by the potential of self-initiated design studios and entrepreneurial makers, which informed the ethos of his own studio, founded in 2015. 

Penadés works from a values- and context-driven perspective, seeking inclusive and flexible solutions to design briefs for furniture, products, interiors and one-off projects. A systems thinker, he merges a meticulous and human-centred approach to design with a desire to create pieces with longevity. Alongside his work as a designer, he has spent time as a curator and creative director, and has developed a body of work that contributes to the narrative around a more progressive design culture –  one that seeks to decouple manufacturing from resource. His celebrated MA thesis Structural Skin – an exploration of the potential of leather offcuts now held in the permanent collection of Vitra Design Museum  – is a case in point.

Zetteler is proud to have worked with Jorge Penadés on a number of occasions, first when he created the anatomy-inspired Traceless pavilion for Brompton Design District  in 2019, then again in 2023, when he was part of AHEC’s exhibition Natural Connections at Madrid Design Festival. Here, he transformed a traditionally decorative material, cherry wood veneer, into a modular structural system that could be applied to varied applications, from seating to shelving. This is the perfect illustration of the way Penadés can go so brilliantly beyond the brief, thinking further than the object and the material to create something bold, beautiful and original. We’re excited to be supporting him as he expands his international practice.

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