1. Where were you born and where are you from ?

I was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco but I’m based in Ensenada, Baja California, in Mexico.

2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?

This is a hard one. My nuclear family is not close to art and design, so I developed my interest in this world when I was older. I don’t know exactly why I have this memory so present, but as a child I remember having curiosity about a little statue of my grandmother (who was like my second mother). And with that “curiosity” I mean I started to intervene (destroy) it with crayons and paint. My grandmother got really mad, it was a recognition statue from the Universidad de Guadalajara because my grandmother was a professor in plastic arts. She was a teacher in techniques of painting and sculpture. I don’t remember exactly what she said to me, but she didn’t punish me, instead she gave me an explanation about the shape of the statue and I think that’s how she opened the door of art in me. Maybe I have that strong memory because of the guilt I’m still carrying for destroying her reward.

3. Have you always worked in the art/design field ?

I think I can say that I have always loved creating. Ideas, problems, solutions, processes, etc. For me, creating is what moves me. But my first serious approach to the art and design field was when I co-started a business five years ago for exterior furniture in Guadalajara (fire pits to be more specific). The first fire table we made was handcrafted by me. From the conception of the design, choosing materials, formulas, and basically making mistakes and learning about them. Since then I’d work every single moment along with the art and design field in every project. It was a before and after in my life.

4. What led you to the design creation ?

I’ve been really introspective with this desire on creating/sculpting pieces. It’s difficult to explain it, but for me it’s a need that comes naturally. In my life I’d work a lot, and by that I mean I’d experience a lot of different ways of living and perceiving reality. From helping my mother when I was a child in her event planning business, working in a stationery store, a money exchange center, and a packaging industrial company, to creating my first business selling desserts, then co-funded a coffee/ habanos shop, and finally co-funded an exterior furniture studio. Also I tried studying medicine and engineering for a few years… It feels like in my short life I desperately wanted to find myself and passion, to find a reason to live. In 2019 I lived a “life changing experience” and that led me to realize that creating is who I am… I understood that life comes from us, not toward us.

By making pieces I’d learn how to use different languages of creation to communicate ideas that come to my mind. Sometimes I feel limitless with words, it’s difficult for me to express my different ways of thinking. When I’m working on a piece I’m really focused on every detail, and I learn a lot about life by working with natural materials. I like to always compare different techniques and processes of sculpting with my life, and how this world moves. Design creation is really a muse for me. Is the reason I’m alive.

5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?

Inspiration comes in a variety of ways, but being focused and cerebral is critical in my process of creating. From the moment of a piece’s conception, it’s important for me to be involved with each step of the creative and production process; from developing the idea in my mind, to designing the body of work, to selecting the right material, and finally to crafting it with my own pulse.

6. Could you describe a typical day of your work ?

Every day in my work it’s really dynamic. Anti-routine. Right now I work in my pieces, but also I have other responsibilities in other businesses, so everyday I try to be really productive along with my team work. It’s hard and I get tired a lot, but I love it. I like to push myself to my own limits. But when I work on my ideas, creations and pieces I’m really serious about it. Of course it’s fun but for me it’s a very important process and I try to be at the same level. I like to do a lot of analogies with the techniques of creation and situations in real life, so for me when I’m working in a piece is the moment where my mind drifts between reality and imagination.

7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?

I like to think that I didn’t choose stone as my signature material, but stone chose me. It sounds poetic, but there are moments when working with the material that I feel the energy going through my veins. This feeling helps me create objects that I have only seen in my mind and are difficult to describe with words. Using the stone’s energy helps me create physical objects sourced from its spiritual essence, as a result of a synergy between a wise material and non-tangible world as my thoughts.

8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?

I perceive my pieces as fragments of materialized consciousness. They are more than just a name and a physical object. Each piece has a specific functionality and tells a story through the combination of art, design, and sculpture. Expression is found in the textures, symbols, and shapes, while also leaving interpretation open to individual perspective. But each piece also has elements that link it to my universe of pieces as a whole.

9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?

I could write a bible. But from my perspective the most important things that a beginner could hear are: it is never too late to start, don’t be afraid of losing yourself, focus on your works and finding your own path and languages of expression, be sensitive in your life and what surrounds you, because inspiration comes in different shapes. Finally but not least, try to fully believe in yourself, it might not be that simple, but you’ll make it and I can guarantee that will make a significant difference.

10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one would you define it ?

Right now with notes of brutalism and primitive, but at the same time Installation.

11. What designers have influenced you ?

To be honest, I don’t believe there’s a specific designer that has influenced my bodies of work, but I do believe I’ve been influenced by finding my passion and realizing who I am thanks to Richard Serra and Isame Noguchi.

12. What contemporary designers do you appreciate ?

A lot. Vincenzo de Cotiis, Hector Esrawe, Aki Cooren, Niclas Wolf, Abel Carcamo, Lucas Morten, Adeline Halot, Paul Cocksedge, Jan Ernst, Isac Kaid, Pietro Francheschini, William Guillion, Jeremy Anderson… and I could name more.

13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?

Richard Serra, Anthony McCall, Henrique Oliveira, Wendell Castle…

14. If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be ?

Materialized consciousness created by the synergy between art, design and sculpture, serving a functionality and specific purposes.

15. Is there anything you would like to add ?

Thanks for reading 🙂

Proust Questionnaire with very short answers (one or a few words) :
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust. Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde, Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)