NeoCon

The Cult: the Only Mexican Designers Invited to Haworth DesignLab x Paved States at NeoCon 2026

Siblings Alaide and Guillermo Alejandre, founders of The Cult, are the only Mexican designers invited to take part in Haworth DesignLab x Paved States during NeoCon 2026, under the curatorship of Patricia Urquiola.

This invitation marks a key moment for the Mexico City–based studio, which for the past seven years has built a distinctive practice across architecture, interiors, furniture and objects. For The Cult, participating in NeoCon is not only about presenting two sofas; it is about bringing a contemporary Mexican design vision to an international platform where industry, culture and the future of living converge.

For this edition, The Cult presents Lenny Sofa and Pelican Sofa, two pieces that express different sides of the studio’s language: boldness, comfort, presence and a way of understanding furniture as a cultural object.

Lenny Sofa is a radical exploration of color, volume and attitude. The piece pushes comfort to an extreme while bringing back the glam, rebellious and emotional side of design. It is not a sofa meant to disappear into a space, but to inhabit it with force: a piece that proposes a freer, more intense and more expressive way of living.

Alongside Lenny, The Cult presents Pelican Sofa, one of the studio’s signature line pieces, reinterpreted for this occasion through the curatorial eye of Patricia Urquiola, with specific adjustments in color and design. Pelican reflects a more refined and enveloping side of the studio: generous, sculptural and deeply comfortable, capable of moving between collectible furniture and a high-level industrial design vision.

The Alejandre siblings are deeply grateful to Haworth, Patricia Urquiola and Paved States for this opportunity and for opening an international space of dialogue for design made in Mexico. For The Cult, this invitation confirms that contemporary Mexican design can be sophisticated, radical, comfortable and viable within the global furniture industry.

From Mexico City, The Cult arrives at NeoCon with two sofas that speak for themselves: pieces with character, intelligence and cultural presence.

The Cult Studio

The CULT is a Mexico City–based design studio founded by siblings Guillermo and Alaide Alejandre. Working across furniture, objects, interiors and architecture, the studio develops projects that merge industrial intelligence, material experimentation and cultural presence.

Their experience includes collaborations with Herman Miller, Savvy Studio, Esrawe Studio and PLDO, as well as the development of workspace, residential and furniture systems for contemporary environments. Today, The CULT designs and produces furniture lines for Steelcase Mexico, while developing its own collection for the Mexican and U.S. markets.

The studio’s work has been featured in ELLE México, ELLE Decor, Glocal, ENEA, Architectural Digest, Dezeen, Metropolis and Designboom. In 2021, The CULT was selected for the Laguna Residency and received Furniture Design of the Year by Design Week Mexico 2021–2022.

At NeoCon, The CULT presents a design language rooted in Mexico City, but built for a global industry: bold, precise and culturally charged.