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In the work of Cristián Mohaded, the boundary between fine art and industrial design is never straightforward.
“To be honest,” Mohaded explains from his studio in Villa Crespo, a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, “I was never interested in becoming a designer. Since I was a kid, I was thinking about being an artist.”
And yet, in 2026, Mohaded has become the first Latin-American designer to join the Molteni&C family of designers, with his Corsetto armchair for the brand debuting at Milan Design Week 2026 – a piece that mixes leather and textile, with the armchair’s form structured by a distinctive corset element that squeezes its volume into soft, enveloping shapes.
Corsetto is an archetypal project for Mohaded, whose work is grounded in a passion for craft techniques, material experimentation, sculptural form-making, and a deep attention to the impact that objects and furniture can have on those who interact with them. Whether creating collectible design, interior architecture, or collaborating with brands such as Loro Piana, Louis Vuitton and CC-Tapis, Mohaded creates designs that are never stand-alone statements, but rather works that enter into a dialogue with their audiences.
Cristián Mohaded with his Corsetto armchair designed for Molteni&C
Corsetto armchair by Cristián Mohaded
“When I design something, even when it’s for production, I’m still trying to cross over and introduce those more artistic ideas,” he says. “It’s about giving something more, offering new layers or another perspective.”
Here, M Magazine catches up with Mohaded, discussing his love of art and craft, the inspiration behind Corsetto, and the significance of working out of Buenos Aires.
How did you become interested in design?
My dream from the beginning was to be an artist. I painted a lot when I was a kid and I had always been fascinated by making things with my hands. I was never thinking about industrial design, but when I was a student at the National University of Córdoba, a friend told me about industrial design, so I started to research it. That was my first contact with that field and I thought it was so nice, because it's about creativity, it’s about production, it’s about making and drawing and painting – all these kind of things!
Did that route into the field shape your path?
At that time, I was still most fascinated by art, because it was still my dream. But one of my teachers, José María Aguirre, listened to me and was very open about giving me more flexibility in my creativity. I told him I was less interested in the industrial part of the discipline, but that I liked being creative and exploring my ideas. He helped me to discover my direction in design and my perspective.
Corsetto armchair by Cristián Mohaded
Corsetto armchair by Cristián Mohaded
How do you think of yourself today? Do you care about how your work is defined.
I have all the elements to be an industrial designer, but I like the more artistic approach. Today, you see a lot of designers crossing the lines and it has become a very multidisciplinary career. What’s interesting to me, however, is to know a person’s vision of what design is. What do you want to say with your work? What is your expression? What is your perspective and ambition?
How do you define that perspective in relation to your work?
It's not easy, but when I’m designing something, I’m trying to not just design a product, but to design an experience with that product. I see so many products in showrooms that are very nice, but they’re not giving you anything extra. They’re empty – they have a nice shape or nice materials, but they don’t have soul. When we create something new, we need to remember to create things with personality and which can have a dialogue with the people who use them. There needs to be a message. We are so saturated with products, so new ones have to give you something else. That’s our job as artists and designers.
So what new layers is Corsetto offering?
Since last April, which I had my first meeting with the Molteni family, I’ve been discovering how Molteni&C always works in the details – they can do something very simple, or something very sophisticated, but they always put all of their energy into those details. They’re looking at every single millimetre. That was very important for me. When I start to design something, I like to have an idea – with Corsetto, that was the idea of an armchair breathing with life. I didn’t want to design an armchair without soul. So Corsetto is really bold. You can really see how the corset is changing its shape – how its original form is more like a classic armchair, but that the corset alters that and lets the form flow outwards.
Corsetto armchair by Cristián Mohaded
Corsetto armchair by Cristián Mohaded
Is it important for you that you’re the first Latin American designer to work in Molteni&C’s collection?
In Argentina, we don't have a lot of industrial companies that give you the opportunity to design, so everyone is looking to work with companies in Europe. From my very first meeting with Molteni&C, they accepted my idea and told me how Corsetto felt both very true to me and very Molteni. They said it was a good blend between my perspective and the company’s. I think that is about the elegance of the lines and the combination of the materials. It’s very contemporary in one way – the combination of the materials and the technology used for the stitching – because half of the product is highly industrial. But the other half is all handcraft, because the product is like a dress in a way – it’s couture. It’s not something a machine can produce.
It feels like luxury design is becoming more interested in that emphasis on craft.
I totally agree. When you see something carefully crafted in a product, you see more than just the product – you see the hands of those who created it, which feels very genuine. It’s more intimate. It's not possible to see that same energy in a fully industrial product. When you see the traces of the hands, the abilities of the makers, the texture of the material, you see the creativity behind it. It makes an individual piece unique. In terms of luxury, that’s what people are looking for now. “Luxury” is a word that I usually don't like too much, because what luxury is depends on your point of view, but for me that’s exactly what it is: it’s working in the direction of craft and exploring everything that brings with it.
That’s true of Corsetto, which has a lot of craft behind it.
Exactly. That product has a lot of craft details. It’s breathing, it’s alive, and it brings you into contact with the people who made it. You can have a dialogue with that piece.
Many of your clients are now European, but you consciously chose to remain working from Argentina. Why is that?
Cristián Mohaded with his Corsetto armchair designed for Molteni&C
Well, it’s not easy. The career of an industrial designer is not very strong in Argentina, or in Latin America in general. As a designer, one of your dreams is to work with companies who can create your pieces, which can be a little complicated here. But I believe in myself, and believe that I have something to say. Since I finished university, I have always felt that I have the ability and vision to work with European brands. I like to learn, and by working with European brands I’m discovering new things all the time. But those are also crossed over with my ideas of my own culture and my own country. I'm from Recreo, a little town in the north of Argentina, and every design is a chance to explore yourself. It’s like an artist – you’re showing your perspective and the vision you have about the world. I really think it's about a point of view. It’s about having different voices with different capacities.
Main Image: Corsetto armchair by Cristián Mohaded.
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