"Reductio ad Lermaense is a collection of made from bulrush-based biomaterials that examine the ecological, cultural, and political history of Ciénegas del Lerma from 1870 to the present. The Ciénegas del Lerma once represented the largest wetland in Mexico's central plateau. Today, only 11% remains after more than 170 years of industrial pollution, water extraction, and other anthropogenic pressures. These changes have disrupted the wetland's biodiversity and weakened traditions such as bulrush weaving, historically practiced by local artisans."
"As ecosystem deterioration has progressed, bulrush (Typha latifolia) has shifted from a valued resource to an invasive species. The project by Manuel Díaz Tufinio reinterprets this material condition through design. Using bulrush-derived biomaterials, the designer developed three leather-like bags that chart the progressive loss of the wetland over time. Rather than proposing a solution, the series functions as a critical design artifact that reflects the ecological transformations of the Lerma lagoons."
"Designer Manuel Díaz Tufinio crafts each bag in correspondence to a specific moment in Mexico's wetlands history. The 1870 bag (60 × 20 × 5 cm) references the first attempts to drain the bodies of water by the Mexican liberal government. The 1951 bag (28 × 17 × 5 cm) is shaped from a map that coincided with the creation of the Lerma System, a vast network of canals and pipelines that diverted water to Mexico City."
A series of three leather-like bags made from bulrush-derived biomaterials maps the ecological decline of Ciénegas del Lerma from 1870 to 2025. The wetland once formed the largest marsh on Mexico's central plateau; only 11% remains after more than 170 years of industrial pollution, water extraction, and other anthropogenic pressures. These transformations have disrupted biodiversity and eroded bulrush weaving traditions practiced by local artisans. Bulrush (Typha latifolia) has shifted from a valued resource to an invasive species. Each bag corresponds to a historical moment—drainage attempts in 1870, Lerma System creation in 1951, and Chimaliapan lagoon reduction in 2025—using diminishing capacities as a metaphor for habitat loss.
Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine
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