Micul Haos is a curious character gathering. It is a community of strange, familiar and intriguing personalities. A public secret society of beings.
With works between toys, animation and craft-generated illustration and a a cross-disciplinary approach, Micul Haos is intended for the kid inside, regardless of age.
It is created by Bucharest-based designer Maria Mandea. She explores play and craft and experiments with form, colour and attitude.
“I started this project back in 2012 after my mother showed me a type of doll she used to make before I was born. I learned how to make them and discovered i really enjoyed photographing them. I still make and photograph them and keep getting better and better.”
Maria studied Product Design and graduated in 2017 with a diploma on playful objects for stage design. In 2017, together with best friend Teodora Ungureanu, they founded Studio Super Serios. While studying, Maria also took an interest in photography, theatre and pedagogy. She is currently working on a PhD with the topic of Play and Participation.
Maria Mandea (b. 1991, Bucharest) is a designer and artist.
She graduated with a Bachelor and Masters degree in Product Design at UAUIM Bucharest in 2017 and is currently a PhD student at UNARTE where she researches the design of playful objects.
In 2013 he created Micul Haos, a doll design project based on an original concept, on the border between toys and participatory art objects. In 2017, she co-founded the Super Serios design studio where she develops games and playful-performative installations.
She works on projects in which she combines the tangible with the digital (Nunu - Cinema Elvira Popescu, 2016; Eviction Notice - Cinetic, 2017; Divided - Ars Electronica, 2020). She created scenography for educational theatre and children theatre performances (Offline Family, Memories from the school age - dramaturgy Mihaela Michailov, directed by Radu Apostol and Kunterbund - directed by Ana Crăciun Lambru).
She has participated with projects in national and international festivals: Explore Dance Festival 2013, Temps D’Images 2013, 2014, Poitiers Film Festival 2018, TAKAVOIR - laboratory of new images 2019, Simultan Festival, 2020, Ars Electronica Festival 2020.