Fernando Mastrangelo has been making furniture and sculpture out of sand, salt, coffee grounds, and crushed glass since 2006 — the kind of pieces that end up at the Brooklyn Museum and Cooper Hewitt, and on the floors of Dior and Stella McCartney. He runs his studio out of Brooklyn and recently opened his own gallery in Manhattan. This fall he's back at Cristina Grajales Gallery for his first solo show in over five years, with new work shaped by a quieter chapter upstate. He's also recently relaunched Design Discord, his podcast about what it actually takes to build a design practice, with the second season already underway. We sat down with Fernando to talk mastery, sleep, and the advice he wishes he'd never heard.

What's the worst recommendation someone's given you?

"Make it more commercial." If I had followed that advice early on, I never would have poured coffee grounds into a mold and called it furniture. The work only resonates when it feels risky. The moment you design to fit neatly into the market, you lose the tension that makes it interesting.

What's the last film you watched that moved you deeply?

One film that's especially meaningful to me is Jiro Dreams of Sushi. I revisit it every year because I relate to its focus on lifelong mastery and relentless refinement. It reminds me that excellence isn't a destination, but a continuous process, no matter the field.

Where do you go to find peace?

At home with my wife and dog. We also love to travel to areas steeped in nature. A few days in a beautiful landscape can keep me refreshed and inspired in the studio for months.

What's the best investment (money, time, habit) you've made?

Sleep. I suffered from insomnia for a while, but after 18 months of radically changing my habits, and working diligently with a specialist, I now sleep like a champ and it's been a game changer.

Write us a fortune cookie message.

"Honor the material, and it will reveal its truth."

Find Fernando on Instagram and Cosmos.