Chilean-born artist Abel Cárcamo is known for his evocative works that blur the lines between sculpture, design and transformation. His recent collaboration with Serafini at Milan Design Week explored the tension between function and form, offering pieces that sit just beyond the boundary of sculpture.
Rooted in his upbringing in Santiago and shaped by his journey across continents, Abel’s work is deeply emotional and process-driven. Balancing traditional craftsmanship with a minimal, contemporary aesthetic, he explores the interplay of textures and forms through materials like glass, metal, plaster and stone. These mediums allow him to express a range of moods and ideas, depending on how he models or combines them. In the end, they help him craft stories where stillness and change exist side by side, inviting the viewer to look closer.
In this conversation, Abel shares the values that shaped him, the experiences that have fueled his creative evolution, and the path that has led him to where he is today.
Read on to discover his story and get a glimpse of what is quietly taking shape behind the scenes.
1. You grew up in Santiago, and your background in Chile has clearly shaped your design philosophy. Can you recall a specific moment, memory, or even an object from your childhood that sparked your journey toward becoming the artist you are today?
Yes, I was born and lived all my life in Chile until I was 28 years old. I can’t point out one specific thing that marked me, because there were many. For me, Chile was like a great school, it gave me everything I needed to grow up, starting from my home and my family.
I grew up in a modest family, but with solid values. From a very young age I was taught to respect others and to value communication, and that really shaped me. That basis has been key, because throughout my career, being able to connect and communicate with people has definitely helped me get to where I am now. In Chile, people are more direct and relationships feel closer, with less formalities. That helped me a lot to learn how to interact with different types of people in a natural way. I believe that before starting any work or personal process, we must know how to treat people. I have always thought that a good relationship brings more practical results, and if that relationship lasts over time, there is mutual growth.
2. You’ve mentioned in a previous interview that drawing is one of the first steps in your creative process. Did this begin in childhood? What were some of your earliest drawings – what subjects or themes captivated you back then?
Honestly, drawing is something I started to do regularly when I arrived in Europe. In design school in Chile I didn’t draw much, and when I did, it was very simple, geometric and technical. I felt that my drawings were not visually interesting, and I even thought that I would never be able to draw differently. But when I arrived in Paris, drawing became a way of expressing all the nostalgia and anxiety I felt for not having what I had in Chile, family, friends, work, etc. It was then when I started to draw more often. Sometimes I would spend entire days making shapes that would randomly emerge as I moved my pencil. I would draw lines without thinking, and other times those shapes were inspired by places or forms that were impressed in my mind. Paper became a kind of liberation for me: there are no limits. You can draw whatever you want and no one can judge you. That’s why drawing plays such an important part in my creative process.
3. Your work often feels so alive – as if it’s caught mid-transition, shifting between one state and another. Do you see your pieces as capturing a fleeting, individual moment, or are they fragments of a larger, unfolding narrative?
Personally, I feel that my work is deeply connected to my life experience and the constant changes I’ve experienced. Each piece is conceived out of a need to translate these internal and emotional processes, which is why they often give the sensation of being in movement, in full transition.
For me, it’s not about capturing a single moment, it’s about revealing a fragment of something bigger, a personal narrative that continues to evolve. Through the techniques I use and the way I combine materials and visual languages, I try to express that sense of an ongoing transformation and a continuous search. In that sense, each work is both an individual moment and part of a larger story that continues to unfold.
4. How do materials like plaster, glass, and metal help you explore the tension
between stillness and transformation? What draws you to these specific mediums, and how do they shape the emotional or conceptual weight of your work?
Materials in general help me explore the balance between stillness and change in a physical form. Each reacts differently: they have their own textures, weights and limits. They appeal to me because they allow me to experiment with contrasts: softness and hardness, fragility and strength, movement and pause.
These materials also carry emotional and symbolic weight. For example, glass can seem delicate but also sharp, metal can seem cold but strong, and plaster has that raw, unfinished quality that I like so much. They all allow me to express different moods and ideas, depending on how I model or combine them. In the end, they help me tell stories about transformation, how something may seem still, but is actually about to become something else.
5. This year, you collaborated with Serafini at Milan Design Week – how did that
opportunity come about, and was it your first time working together? What drew you to the collaboration, and what aspects of your vision or process felt aligned with theirs?
Yes, this was my first collaboration with Serafini. The opportunity happened because the founder of the brand, Alessandro, saw my work a few years ago in his factory, when they produced a piece of me for a gallery in Paris. That was the moment he recognized my work, and last year he invited me to collaborate on the occasion of the second anniversary of his new gallery in the center of Milan during the design week.
For me it was a great opportunity, as it allowed me to meet and work with a very advanced creative and technological process. The possibility of mixing the handmade with the digital, in a world that is constantly evolving, was something that deeply attracted me. I felt that Serafini’s vision aligned with mine, because they also want to move forward and experiment with new forms of creation through their processes.
6. The title of your show at Serafini’s gallery, Morphe, carries a strong presence. What does this word mean to you, and how does it reflect the themes or ideas you explore in the collection?
Morphe comes from my desire to explore the multiple possibilities of marble, a material that has always fascinated me for its resistance, durability and symbolic weight. I often wonder how something that seems so solid and immutable can be transformed, how can it go beyond what we already know about it and take on new functions in our daily lives?
Through a mix of balance, counterbalance, straight cuts and organic shapes, this collection pretends to break with convention. It is not just about designing objects, but about pushing marble to adopt forms that seem almost impossible, challenging its own nature. Each piece invites reflection on the tension between heaviness and lightness, and how balance can change the way we see the material.
This project has been possible thanks to a deep research of the structures through handmade models, digital tools, 3D modeling and, of course, a close collaboration with skilled craftsmen.
7. Looking back now at your experience at Milan Design Week, what moment or experience stood out to you the most, whether it was the feedback you received, a conversation or a personal reflection?
Milan is an amazing city, especially during Design Week. The mix of people, cultures and ideas is really inspiring. I had some conversations with other young designers during the exhibition and we shared some ideas about our ways of working. I realized that, in the end, we all start from the same place, we look for opportunities, try things out and evolve to bring our ideas to life.
The truth is that we don’t always get the opportunities we want, but if you keep working and trying, even if the results are not exactly what you expected, it’s always worth it. You learn something and that helps you become more skilled for the future.
8. What’s next for you in your creative journey? Are there any upcoming shows or projects where we might see your work soon?
At the moment, I am focused on preparing new pieces for PAD London in October 2025, and working on private commissions. I have been working on these processes for the past six months and they are not finished yet, but they will see the light soon.
