Barragán's “best-kept secret”: French and Mexican design inside Casa Ortega
For Design Week Mexico, architect Luis Barragán's rarely accessible home opens its doors. More than 30 designers show furniture and objects on red plinths made of recycled material.
Symbolic image · Photo: Thomas Ledl / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Casa Ortega in Mexico City is normally closed to the public: Luis Barragán designed it between 1942 and 1947 as his own residence, before the famous Casa Luis Barragán next door. In 1947 it was bought by silversmith Alfredo Ortega Rojas, whose descendants still live there. According to Dezeen, its caretakers call it “Barragán's best-kept secret”. For Design Week Mexico 2026, its gardens and verandas are open for the exhibition “Creative Immersions France-Mexico”, which runs until 25 October.
On show are furniture and objects by more than 30 designers, created during three years of residency programmes in which French designers worked with Mexican artisans and workshops. They include vessels by Matali Crasset with studio And Jacob and a yellow metal chair by Hall Haus and Neko Design. The show is curated by C Cúbica Arquitectos, whose co-founder Andrea Cesarman organises Design Week Mexico.
The display was designed by Paris- and Mexico City-based studio 2x1. The dark-red plinths are made of Polyroca, a panel of recycled post-industrial laminated cardboard waste produced by Mexican company New Fibers. Larger units combine industrial metal frames with fabric awnings. According to the organisers, the exhibition marks 200 years of cultural and economic exchange between Mexico and France.