In Itzcali, Mexican designer Sebastián Ángeles expands his creative practice beyond object design and into the realm of spatial experience. Presented in Mexico City in November 2025, the project reimagines the bathroom not as a purely functional room, but as a contemporary ritual space — one rooted in purification, contemplation and an intimate reconnection with the self.
Drawing on pre-Hispanic cosmology and the ancient temazcal tradition, Itzcali is conceived as a sensorial refuge where water, stone, light and vapour exist in careful balance. The space evokes both the warmth of ancestral sweat lodges and the solemnity of stone bathhouses carved into the earth — places where the body was restored and time appeared to pause.
Light plays a central, expressive role. Filtered and softened, it washes gently across mineral surfaces, blurring edges and creating an atmosphere of penumbra in which time seems to dissolve. Here, illumination is not merely functional; it becomes material in itself, shaping perception and guiding the emotional rhythm of the space.
Sound, scent and texture complete the sensory choreography. The quiet movement of water, the living grain of stone, earthy aromas and humid warmth invite a return to the body as a primordial territory — grounding the experience in slowness and presence. In this environment, every gesture becomes deliberate, almost ceremonial.
Within this ritual landscape, two sculptural designs by Ángeles are introduced with restraint: MATLA and TLAL. Rather than dominating the space, they function as subtle ceremonial accents that deepen the narrative. MATLA, conceived as a sculptural basin, references the feminine energy of water through distilled geometry drawn from ancestral ornamentation. Its form bends gently to the movement of liquid, suggesting offering and flow.
TLAL, a fountain composed of intersecting volumes, explores the duality between weight and fluidity. Evoking rain as a force of renewal, it anchors water with symbolic presence while remaining secondary to the larger spatial gesture. Together, these elements activate water as both material and meaning.
Ultimately, Itzcali reflects Ángeles’ desire to create sensitive environments where material and memory converge. In this space, the bathroom becomes an altar; stone becomes a vessel of remembrance; and water becomes a passage. It is an invitation to inhabit space from within — to slow down, surrender to shadow and vapour, and rediscover the quiet power of ritual in everyday life.
The project was originally presented during Design House as part of Design Week Mexico 2025.
Credits
Images: Alejandro Ramírez, Instagram: @sebastian__angeles
