Maryangela Sanchez Rocca
3D design/ MFA
Cranbrook Academy of Art
Graduates: 2026
Specialisms: Furniture / Sustainable Design / Contemporary Craft
My location: New York, United States
Maryangela Sanchez Rocca
First Name: Maryangela
Last Name: Sanchez Rocca
University / College: Cranbrook Academy of Art
Course / Program: 3D design/ MFA
Graduates: 2026
Specialisms: Furniture / Sustainable Design / Contemporary Craft
My Location: New York, United States
Website: Click To See Website
About
Maryangela Sanchez Rocca is a designer from Saltillo, Mexico, with a BFA in Product Design from Parsons School for Design (2020) and an MFA in 3D Design/Industrial Design at Cranbrook Academy of Art (2026). Her focus is on applying a feminist and decolonial approach to furniture and object design. She seeks not to replicate current practices and ways of engaging with exploitation in industrial design. She thinks of a material not only as a medium but also as an entire ecosystem tied to land and people. She finds answers through the economy of materiality. Her work exists between the art/design/craft spaces.
I am interested in researching the visualization of the Anthropocene footprint through design objects. In the context of food packaging, we generate a significant amount of waste and have underutilized materials that could be repurposed rather than continuing to extract and exploit overused natural resources. For example, nylon and polypropylene nets are often used as replacements for natural fiber sacks when transporting produce, helping to prevent moisture accumulation. The "Redes" lighting series emerged from an intuitive exploration of how produce nets could be transformed. Molded colorful plastic creates intriguing shades for lighting. The bags were compressed, layered, molded, and sewn into forms inspired by fruit-filled bags, ancient fertility figurines, and traditional Mexican woven plastic shopping bags. The vibrant colors of these bags comment on the waste generated by our artificial hyper-fertility and the unseasonal nature of our current food production systems.