The Colombian capital sits high on a plateau in the Andes at over 8,500 feet, cradled by steep green mountains. Here, design heritage and culture can be found in markets and murals, metal and thread, in historic places and purpose-built spaces.
In the city’s historic center, the Museo Botero and the Museo del Oro anchor two ends of a cultural spectrum. Botero is Colombia’s most internationally recognized artist, and his sculptures and paintings stretch forms into chubby satire, while the gold museum holds one of the world’s most significant collections of pre-Hispanic ritual objects, designs made not for display, but for ceremony.
Botero
Fernando Botero, “Mona Lisa,” 1977. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Fernando Botero, “Caballo” 1998.. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Gold & silver
I had a chance to see that sensibility first-hand in Chapinero, where gold- and silversmith El Metalero invited me into his workshop. He creates beautiful hand-forged objects that draw on ancient stories and a strong streak of rebellion, often interpreting forms borrowed from animals and humans in local mythology.
El Metalero. EPhoto by Anki Delfmann
El Metalero. Photo by Anki Delfmann
El Metalero. Photo by Anki Delfmann
El Metalero. Photo by Anki Delfmann
El Metalero. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Contemporary craft
Just around the corner, the concept store Diseño Colombia (by Artesanías de Colombia) presents the country’s rich material and craft traditions in a contemporary context. The collection includes cane-fiber hats, barniz de Pasto lacquerware, charred and carved stools, hand-dyed hammocks, and maize-inspired jewelry. Many of their pieces have appeared at international design fairs like Maison & Objet and NY NOW – but they’re all rooted in Colombia’s diverse regions and long-standing craft techniques.
Diseño Colombia. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Diseño Colombia. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Diseño Colombia. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Diseño Colombia. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Weaving
Weaving in particular, and creating surfaces from canes, threads and leaves, plays a central role across cultures here. It is used both as a crafting technique and a way of telling stories. From the sombrero vueltiao to contemporary homeware, fashion, and even architecture, woven forms carry ancestral knowledge while continuing to evolve, and remain a defining thread in Colombia’s design identity even today.
Diseño Colombia. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Diseño Colombia. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Diseño Colombia. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Diseño Colombia. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Bricks
Another material ubiquitous in the city is brick. Brick facades, lots of them from the 70s and 80s, define Bogotá’s urban landscape. There are two primary reasons for this: Bogotá sits on a plateau with abundant clay deposits, and the city expanded rapidly experiencing waves of rural migration in the 70s and 80s. From family houses to skyscrapers, it gives the city a distinct reddish warmth that blends with the surrounding mountains.
Bogotá bricks. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Bogotá bricks. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Bogotá bricks. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Murals, markets & bamboo
A few miles away in La Merced, walls start to become more colorful and mix bricks with murals. Often depicting themes of indigenous heritage and native flora and fauna, they tell a story of local pride at street level.
Street art by Resistiza. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Equally colorful, Mercado La Perseverancia shows how grassroots creativity, paired with government support, can revive a city landmark. There is a strong female presence at La Perseverancia, where women reinvent traditional dishes from across Colombia, celebrating the nation’s biodiversity and cultural richness. A state-backed renovation with public art and training programs helped the market earn the title of Bogotá’s best place to eat in 2019 (and also got it featured in a Netflix street food documentary).
Mural by Draku. Photo by Anki Delfmann
La Perseverancia. Photo by Anki Delfmann
“Kuna Tule” by Carlos Trilleras. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Further south in colonial La Candelaria, the murals continue. Piqueteadero El Egipto is another place that tells the region’s story through food, materials, and architecture. Just a street away from the once-notorious Barrio Egipto, long marked by gang violence, it works to restore neighborhood pride beneath a striking bamboo ceiling designed by architect Simón Velez, Colombia’s master of structural bamboo and a global pioneer of sustainable design.
Piqueteadero Egipto. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Piqueteadero Egipto. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Bamboo roof by Simón Velez. Photo by Anki Delfmann
Bogotá’s design landscape is as layered as its mountains: rooted in ancient history, reshaped by human hands, and fertile with creativity.
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