Objet d’Art: Baby Faced

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID FRANCO/TRECE.

Every month, Interview picks an artist or designer created object that straddles the line between aesthetics and function. Subdued tastes need not apply.

Inspiration can arise from the unlikeliest of places. For Tony Moxham and Mauricio Paniagua, the Mexico City-based designers behind DFC, the luxury design label, it struck after seeing a photo online of a larger-than-average Chinese baby. “It got us thinking about past perceptions of fat signifying prosperity in many cultures, in contrast with Mexico’s modern-day fight against obesity,” Moxham tells us. From that came the Happy Baby Ceramic Trophy Head, a delightfully whimsical sculptural likeness of the baby they saw.

The Baby Trophy is much more than body positive: it’s part of DFC’s “Chinoseria” collection, in which Moxham and Mauricio imagine a cultural exchange between Mexico and China. Though neither have been to China, “through research, we became fascinated with the significance of certain colors, textures, and auspicious symbols, and tried to incorporate these into our designs,” Moxham says. The results—such as their “Chaquira” sculptures inspired by China’s former emperors and empresses—are blisteringly fantastical, and more surreal than anthropological. 

Moxham explains that the Baby Trophy also serves as a giant good luck charm. Clocking in at 16 inches wide, and with cheeks so big you want to reach out and squeeze them, it’s an attention-grabbing addition to a space (and available for $805). Perhaps now more than ever we can use the reminder that there’s more that unites us than separates us. Maybe one day that won’t be such a fantasy.

THE HAPPY BABY CERAMIC TROPHY HEAD IS AVAILABLE THROUGH THE PÉREZ ART MUSUEM MIAMI STORE FOR $995.


Objet D’Art runs every month. For more, click here.