Speaker Introduction & Background

• Catalina Lero, suffers from "aesthetic anxiety" - anxious about poor fonts, lighting vs. typical fears
• Same feeling drove her into design and aesthetics world
• 2018: Moved to Japan for 5 years as academic design/aesthetics researcher at K University, Tokyo
• As Latin American, wanted to understand Japan's confidence/pride in their aesthetics

Japanese Design Research Findings

• Japan's design icons trace back minimum 1,000 years
• Purposefully selected, protected, evolved aesthetic elements
• Aesthetics hold powerful influence on everyday actions/decisions without awareness
• Admired well-known objects/spaces: temples, tatami rooms, kimonos

Tatami Room Analysis

• Tatami room: space designed ~1,200 years ago
• Soft straw floors for ceremonies, especially tea ceremony
• Had tatami room in every Tokyo apartment despite tiny size
• Used as bedroom, spent time analyzing origin, design, style, meaning
• Lying awake wondering: what's Latin American equivalent?

Cultural Realization & Problem

• Couldn't identify any Latin American objects/spaces tracing back 1,000+ years
• Couldn't think of rituals, spaces, architectural structures
• Realized lack of knowledge due to colonization
• European conquest erased almost all knowledge documents
  • Mexican codexes, Peruvian Kus burned/stolen
  • Applied same destruction to spiritual beliefs, beauty concepts
• Pre-Columbian cultures not allowed to evolve/refine

Pre-Columbian Futurism Concept

• Speculative design project seeking hidden stories/messages of precolonial communities
• Bringing them into today through design
• Question: What would Latin America look like if pre-Columbian civilizations evolved without colonial interruption?

Coca Leaf Ritual Space Design

• Started with Latin American tatami room equivalent
• Pre-Columbian civilizations performed rituals around coca leaf (like Japanese tea ritual)
• Still important for indigenous communities today
• Identified common features of coca leaf spaces:
  • All rounded
  • Central fire
  • Floor seating
  • Metallic jars for spitting
  • Decorated with altars to gods (corn, moon, sun, Chia)
  • "Sh" in Chipa dialect

Chair Design Research

• Identified common design traits in Aztec chairs:
  • Sharp angles
  • Heavy appearance
  • Similar color palette
  • Made comfortable using jaguar skin
• Became obsessed with jaguar skin printing/illustration techniques
• Uses jaguar skin pattern in all current designs

Jaguar Symbolism & Future Design

• Jaguar: important powerful god for pre-Columbian civilizations
• Shape shifter moving between living/death
• Inspired paintings, illustrations, pottery, jewelry
• Designed AI-enabled earring/jewelry piece
  • Helps decipher visions/dreams
  • Takes calls
  • Looking toward future applications

Movement & Other Creators

• Discovered part of broader Latin American movement
• Charles Michelle: chef educating world on coca leaf, cacao, tupi, ancestral foods
• Vanessa Gomez: recovering antique fabrication techniques, making them timeless
• Ora Nan: art director mixing pre-Columbian tradition with modern pop culture
• Lisette Korea: Atlanta Belt Line artist exploring Taíno heritage through graffiti/other mediums
• Freddy Manami: self-taught architect from Bolivia, Aymara community member
  • Crosses Aymara graphics/fabrics with sci-fi love
  • Builds landscapes in Bolivia outer building parts

Philosophy & Call to Action

• Pre-Columbian futurism: one aesthetic approach bringing past inspiration to present, projecting to future
• Everything designed today literally designs us back constantly
• Latin Americans need future where they see themselves
• Feel empowered to work toward it vs. waiting for other cultures to predict future
• Need to find own cultural features, project into future to work toward