Art In Progress
Rafael Freyre
Lima
Rafael Freyre
Massimo Dutti’s ArtInProgress project was created with the mission to promote the creativity of local artists from around the world. One of the latest collaborations has been with the artist Rafael Freyre in the Lima shop.
Rafael Freyre, Peruvian architect, artist and designer, aspires for each of his projects to merge with the local landscape and territory. From his studio he carries out an expanded and collaborative practice, with a multidisciplinary team (artists, designers, creators and artisans), which incorporates local communities and focuses on exploring Peru’s different ecosystems and their sustainability, its stony coasts, wetlands, sierras, deserts and jungle.
For each project, Freyre values the biodiversity of the area and the cultural practices historically associated with it, rescuing natural elements, both vegetal and geological.
Rafael studied architecture at the Ricardo Palma University. He then completed a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Plymouth in England and at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam, Holland, developing research on migration and mobility, for which he was awarded the promotion prize. He worked as an architect and designer in Rotterdam and later in Rome with Massimo Fuksas Architetto. He then worked for a short period in New York and Bali with theatre director Robert Wilson. In 2021 he participated in the 22nd ‘Paiz Art Biennale’, and in 2022 in the 23rd Biennale of Sydney ‘Rivus’, both together with artist Ana Barboza. He currently works as Creative Director at Estudio RF, where he leads a team of architects, designers and craftsmen. Together they develop diverse projects that integrate architecture, design and art.
In Rafael Freyre’s studio they understand technology to mean both a handmade fabric made of reed or totora reed fibres, as well as an electronic device. They envision a future where different ancient and contemporary technologies complement and coexist.
The projects developed by Rafael and his team involve collaborations between very diverse practices: traditional and contemporary artists, designers, architects and creators who use different technologies, both manual and digital. This collaboration between the artist and Massimo Dutti in the new shop that the firm has opened in Lima reflects the convergence between artistic expression, nature and the minimalist aesthetics of the shop. An initiative that invites art and fashion lovers to immerse themselves in an interesting visual journey to explore the brand’s universe through the eyes of the artist.
