The School of Interiors’ workshop series Blender is moving right along with our second activation this week. We have really enjoyed curating and supporting this sequence of experimental practitioners and can’t wait to host our next workshop led by Antonio Torres of Bittertang Farm.

Blender is multi-modal, maker-based, and celebratory of the intersectional nature of the study of Interiors. Throughout the semester, we welcome a series of multi-disciplinary designers to lead maker-based workshops for our students, as an exercise in questioning the limitations of our own discipline and evolving toward a more examined, inclusive future.

Workshop 02: Antonio Torres: Thursday, March 18 and Friday, March 19, Antonio Torres will be leading the second workshop in the Blender series.

Torres explores expressions and sensations through architecture and various media. He co-founded The Bittertang Farm as a place to experiment with the physics, biology, behaviors, and emotions of our surroundings. His work explores multiple themes including pleasure, frothiness, animal posturing, babies, sculpture and coloration all unified through bel composto. Recently, he has built three inflatable pavilions; a pregnant, sugar-oozing piñata; a plush toy collection; a sagging birdcage; a room of wax; an edible environment; and a living amphitheater.

He continues to create projects between his childhood home in rural Michoacan, Mexico, and the city of Chicago. He holds a Master of Architecture from UCLA and has taught design and technology studios internationally. Antonio is the recipient of numerous architectural awards including the Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and the New Practices Award from AIANY. He was a finalist in the MoMA PS1 Young Architects Competition in 2015, and he was awarded the TED Fellowship in 2013. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Associate Director of undergraduate affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he brings a deep understanding of materiality and pleasure into the classroom.

We invite you to follow along and engage with Antonio’s workshop this week at @interiors_uky on Instagram. We will exhibit the work on the 3rd floor of Pence after the workshop so please stop by and see it if you have the opportunity! Stay tuned for more information about our final exhibition which will take place in April and celebrate the work from each installment of the series.