About 3 — Fragmentario

About

Fragmentario was started by María Elena Pombo in 2016 as a project to explore and research ideas of time and culture with the goal of understanding how collective consciousness is formed and how to expand it.

María Elena Pombo was born in Caracas (Venezuela) in 1988 and has lived in Brooklyn since 2011. She has a background in fashion design and industrial engineering and has studied and worked in the USA, Venezuela and France. These multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary experiences inform her work which seeks to start conversations from different perspectives.

She has exhibited her work and lectured across Europe, Japan and the USA at venues such as Yamamoto-Seika, A/D/O and La Guarimba Film Festival. She has also worked as faculty at Parsons School of Design and as lecturer at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the New York Botanical Garden. For more information on her teaching experience, you can click here. She has also worked as a consultant with different brands applying her research. You can see this work here.

She is currently working on a project called La Rentrada, which will be exhibited at the London Design Biennale in June 2021 in Somerset House. The project explores avocado seeds as a material to replace Venezuela’s dependency on oil and with this to allow the return of the Venezuelan diaspora into its country.

You can contact María Elena at info@fragmentario.co

You can see updated work at instagram.com/fragmentario_

Selected Education & Work Experiences

Education

Parsons School of Design
AAS, Fashion Design
New York, New York
2011 - 2013

Universidad Simón Bolívar
Engineering Degree, Production Engineering
Caracas, Venezuela
2005 - 2011

Institute National des Sciences Appliquées
Exchange Student, Industrial Engineering
Lyon, France
2009 - 2010

Universidad Metropolitana
Certificate, Venezuelan History
Certificate, Venezuelan Art
Caracas, Venezuela (Virtual)
2020 - Present

Work

Consulting
2018 - 2020, The Letter H
2018 - 2019, Buffy
2017 - 2018, Studio Nudo

Teaching
2016 - Present, Independent
2019 - Present, Parsons School of Design
2018 - Present, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
2018 - 2019, New York Botanical Garden

Fashion Design
2016, Nine Fashion, Senior Designer
2015, Ovadia & Sons, Associate Designer
2013-2014, Michael Kors, Assistant Tech. Designer

Engineering
2010, Nexans, IT Strategy Trainee
2008, Jantesa, Cost Engineering Trainee

Further Information

Client Work

Teaching

Selected Projects & Exhibitions

Research Projects

2019 - Ongoing, La Rentrada
2018 - Ongoing, Rosa Terráqueo
2017 - Ongoing, Ahvacatl
2016 - Ongoing, Onion Society
2016 - Ongoing, Zuzubana

Upcoming:
2019 - Ongoing, Combustible Fósil
2019 - Ongoing, Almidonoides

Public & Participatory Art Projects

2020, Brooklyn (NY), Entrelazado en la Fábrica de Concreto
2020, Brooklyn (NY), Escalera de Yuca
2019, Amantea (Italy), Entrelazado in La Grotta
2017, Amantea (Italy), Fake Weaving in La Grotta

Research Projects

Combustible Fósil
Upcoming

Almidonoides
Upcoming

La Rentrada
2018 - 2020, The Letter H
2018 - 2019, Buffy
2017 - 2018, Studio Nudo

Rosa Terráqueo
2019 - Ongoing, La Rentrada
2019 - Ongoing, Almidonoides
2019 - Ongoing, La Rentrada
2018 - Ongoing, Rosa Terráqueo
2017 - Ongoing, Ahvacatl
2016 - Ongoing, Onion Society
2016 - Ongoing, Zuzubana

Ahvacatl
2016, Nine Fashion, Senior Designer
2015, Ovadia & Sons, Associate Designer
2013-2014, Michael Kors, Assistant Tech. Designer

Onion Society
2010, Nexans, IT Strategy Trainee
2008, Jantesa, Cost Engineering Trainee

Zuzubana
2016 - Ongoing, Nine Fashion, Senior Designer

Education & Work