Architect Socks: MAT and The Original Cha Chá bring together architecture, design and matter

Architect Socks: MAT and The Original Cha Chá bring together architecture, design and matter

MAT Barcelona

MAT presents Architect Socks, the campaign that accompanies the architect-designed sock collection by The Original Cha Chá. It brings together 33 designs signed by 32 architects and studios. MAT Barcelona has interpreted each one with a material universe of its own.

The Original Cha Chá is a Barcelona brand that has been turning art and illustration into everyday objects since the eighties. Architecture does something similar at the smallest scale: it fits inside a sock.

Photographer Albert Armengol portrays each sock surrounded by wall coverings, bathtubs, taps and furniture. The design by Tuñón y Albornoz sits alongside the Meisterstück Oyo Duo bathtub, by Stefan Diez for Kaldewei. Bayona Valero's is paired with Phenomenon, by Tokujin Yoshioka for Mutina. Marc Arnal's goes with the Cuna bathtub, by Patricia Urquiola for Agape. That makes 33 scenes in which the material weighs as much as the sock.

The collection is signed by Tuñón y Albornoz, Bayona Valero, Twobo, Marc Arnal, ABAA Arquitectura, CRUX arquitectura, h3o architects, Quim Larrea, Amoo Studio, Metrònom Arquitectura, DAWOFFICE, Carlos Pazos, Cierto Estudio, Joaquim Ruiz Millet (with two designs), Mercè Badal, César Frías (MORPH), Eduardo Arroyo (NO.MAD), Òscar Tusquets Blanca, batlleiroig, Carlos Ferrater (OAB), Gianni Ruggiero (Toolstudio), Juli Capella, Silvia Garcia Camps, 23:45 Arquitectes, Thierry Job, Labaula, Jelena Prokopljevic, Ramón Úbeda, The Original Cha Chá for the Fundació Joan Miró, Juan Carter "El Gato", Jamlet (Martínez Lapeña & Torres) + DCO and Octavio Mestre. They will be revealed on MAT's social media, with a card for each sock and its materials.

The campaign will be presented on 12 November at M300, the MINIM group's cultural space, at a private event by invitation and prior registration. Beyond the object, Architect Socks highlights architecture's capacity to go beyond the built scale and shape what surrounds us every day.

About The Original Cha Chá

A Barcelona brand that has been transforming art and illustration into everyday objects since the eighties, working with some of the city's most emblematic illustrators and artists. Made in Barcelona.

Legs in black socks with light grey squares, resting on a wooden board across a red bathtub, with a chrome tap in the background
Legs in red and orange houndstooth socks inside a white bathtub with a dark frame, beneath an orange wooden pendant lamp
Legs in yellow socks with cream dots and red trims, in front of a wall of geometric grey tiles and a curved black tap
Crossed legs in black socks with classical columns and white stripes, sitting on a mustard fabric armchair
Raised legs in black socks with a band of yellow and pink rectangles, against a wall of blue herringbone tiles
Blue socks with yellow lightning bolts, one foot on a wall-mounted tap and the other on a white washbasin, beneath a round illuminated mirror
Raised legs in purple socks with green trims and cream toes, next to a black hand shower on a wall of grey tiles
Legs in red and orange houndstooth socks inside a white bathtub with a dark frame, beneath an orange wooden pendant lamp
Legs in yellow socks with cream dots and red trims, in front of a wall of geometric grey tiles and a curved black tap
Crossed legs in black socks with classical columns and white stripes, sitting on a mustard fabric armchair
Raised legs in black socks with a band of yellow and pink rectangles, against a wall of blue herringbone tiles
Blue socks with yellow lightning bolts, one foot on a wall-mounted tap and the other on a white washbasin, beneath a round illuminated mirror
Raised legs in purple socks with green trims and cream toes, next to a black hand shower on a wall of grey tiles