Eli Gutiérrez is a Valencian designer who after studying in her hometown, moved to London to do an MA in Product Design at the Royal College of Art. After this experience, which enriched her vision of design, she first moved to Milan where she worked with Patricia Urquiola, and then to Paris where she collaborated with Philippe Starck and India Mahdavi.
In 2016 she opened his own multidisciplinary studio between Paris and Valencia, focusing on product design, installations, interior design and concept creation. Her cosmopolitan and intercultural approach might be defined as a "citizen of the world” perspective, that of an explorer with an eye for detail, a traveler with a contemporary and incisive vision that reshapes the traditional codes of our surroundings, through unusual stories, often expressed with eloquence and a crisp elegance.
Her work, full of sensitivity and with a clear identity, emphasizes function, materials and attention detail. An unconditional love of craftsmanship coupled with keen observation of new technologies and a real sensitivity for color, material and texture gives her language a distinctive character, never forgetting consideration and respect for every detail and every one of the steps necessary to create a unique project.
Her clients include: LZF lamps, Gancedo, Chevalier Edition, Geelli, BlackTone by JMM, Missana, La Cartuja de Sevilla, Madlab, Cimenterie de la Tour, Signorini Rubinetterie and NT Forest. Since 2020 she has been teaching on the Master's Degree in Product Design at the Cardenal Herrera CEU University in Valencia.
We talked to Eli about her career, her vision of design, and her latest projects:
Interiors from Spain: Where did your passion for design come from? And who were you influenced by?
Eli Gutierrez: I came across design somewhat by chance. At first I wanted to study architecture, but I was left on the waiting list because of the minimum grade required. As I’d always been the sort of person who’s interested in everything, and I liked to create objects and then take them apart to find out how they were made, my second choice was design, as I felt that the two fields were closely connected to each other. During my first week studying design I was offered a place on the architecture program, but finally I decided not to change and to stay with design, because I’d fallen in love with the subject.
As for those who have influenced me, the truth is I’ve always been an admirer of the great Italian masters, but also people like Charlotte Perriand, Dieter Rams and others.
Interiors from Spain: After studying in your hometown you completed your training at the Royal College of Art in London. How did it change the way you think and design?
Eli Gutierrez: I came from a very traditional background in Spain, where you were told what you had to do all the time. When I landed in London everything was new, it’s a city with infinite possibilities, very open, and a huge melting pot with hundreds of different nationalities. Something that was also very noticeable in the others in my class, they were all from completely different countries and backgrounds.
At the Royal College of Art, I encountered another, much freer type of education, where there were no classes per se, where the teachers become fellow artists who guided you in your experiments, making you push your limits to find yourself and what you wanted to say. Everything felt free, and that freedom and chaos at the beginning came with a sense of vertigo, but then it helped you to find yourself and to be able to attack projects with decision and professionalism.
That experience was the trigger that helped me begin to understand design in a different way, and how to shape my own language.
Interiors from Spain: You moved to Milan where you worked with Patricia Urquiola, and then to Paris where you collaborated with Philippe Starck and India Mahdavi. What did you learn from them?
Eli Gutierrez: They taught me everything, they were three very different but complementary experiences, from which I learned a lot: how to experiment, how to be tenacious and do my best, to try to innovate as much as possible, and an obsessive attention to detail, as well as the use of color and space to create emotion.
Interiors from Spain: And in 2016 you opened your own studio between Paris and Valencia. Why in both cities?
Eli Gutierrez: It was a natural move, as at the time I decided to set up my own studio I was still actively collaborating with India Mahdavi, so I thought it was the logical thing to do. Being in between two cities helped me to move around with ease to see potential clients and to continue with the different projects I was working on at the time. At the moment, only the studio in Valencia is open, since the Covid-19 pandemic made it difficult to maintain the one in Paris.
Interiors from Spain: Your work focuses on product design, installations, interior design and concept creation. Which area do you feel most comfortable in?
Eli Gutierrez: I feel very comfortable with all of the disciplines and all of the projects we’re involved with at the studio, we really like to change the scale of things, it’s fascinating and enriching. I am a very inquisitive person, my eyes are always wide open. We have a lot of fun doing what we do, we put a lot of energy and passion into it, and we’re ready to take on any commission that comes our way!
Ultimately, each project has its own history, and in general each involves a very different way of working. Sometimes we take a material, a technology, a need as our starting point. That diversity is what motivates and inspires us, the possibility of working in one discipline one day, and in a completely different one the next, overlapping them. But in the end there’s a common thread between them.
Interiors from Spain: How would you define your way of designing? What do you try to convey in your objects and projects?
Eli Gutierrez: I’m very interested in storytelling, I think it’s very important that a project tells a story in itself, and that the concept behind it can be appreciated almost without words.
The starting point for any project is always an analysis of the client and the product; we look for the inspiration that best reflects the "mood" of the project. This inspiration gives you a base, it acts as a framework and helps us to understand what the key elements are that we need to hold onto throughout the design process, and to be faithful to them.
We always explore in different directions; I think diversification might be one of our hallmarks, sometimes we go around in circles or get lost, only to find ourselves later. As a designer you have to take risks, push the boundaries. Designing means getting out of your comfort zone, you have to grow. You have to break down prejudices, but whatever discipline you work in, it's essential to innovate, to try to create your own language while respecting the identity of each company you collaborate with.
Interiors from Spain: What materials do you like to work with and why? Any new ones you would like to experiment with?
Eli Gutierrez: The truth is I don’t put up any barriers when working with materials, I’m comfortable with all of them, we believe very often it’s the project that speaks to you and shapes the need for using a particular material. For example, the new collection of lamps we’ve made for LZF - we worked with wood veneer, which was really inspiring, because wood is a noble material as it transmits emotions. The feel of it is nice, the grain tells stories. It’s warm and makes objects somehow "alive". Caressing a wooden object almost transports us to the forest it was originally extracted from.
Interiors from Spain: Tell us about your more technological designs such as "Airtales" "Sofiathinks" and "Senticnel". Their usefulness, and the improvements they bring to our lives and to nature
Eli Gutierrez: AIRTALES is a device with a combination of sensors that analyzes the components and particles present in the air we breathe. This makes it possible to measure carbon dioxide, ozone, and nitrogen levels, and helps us to see how healthy the air in our environment is.
The data collected by the sensor is displayed via a very visual and simple app that works as a data center and sends you recommendations to improve your routines and breathe healthier.
SOFIATHINKS is made up of 2 elements, a device that acts as an AI (Artificial Intelligence) brain, and a series of sensors distributed in the different rooms in the home that will make it possible to collect enough data to help the people living there in different ways, for example by helping them to optimize energy consumption and savings, warning if an elderly person has fallen over, or monitoring when the children come home".
SENTICNEL: This is a wildfire defense tool, a wireless alarm system that can predict the trajectory of a growing fire. Tree-mounted sensors identify the location of a wildfire and alert the emergency services by email and SMS shortly after it breaks out.
Combining real-time sensor data with the "Farsite" fire growth simulation software, the system also models the route the fire is likely to take, allowing firefighters to reach it faster and address it more effectively. Among other factors, it monitors temperature, humidity, radiation, and wind speed and direction.
In the end all these devices that use AI (Artificial Intelligence) help to provide solutions to a series of problems that have been increasing recently due to the type of society we live in. The concern about the quality of the air we breathe, made even more of a concern by the situation during the Covid pandemic, the increase in the number of fires due to global warming or even helping the elderly who live alone and give them a better quality of life.
Interiors from Spain: As a designer. How do you see the role of women in the design industry in Spain? What distinctive vision does female talent bring to design?
Eli Gutierrez: I'm not really interested in this gender issue, to tell you the truth. I believe that what each person has to contribute is down to their personality, regardless of whether they’re a man or a woman. Ultimately, design is a job full of feminine qualities, such as adaptability, flexibility, multitasking and knowing how to make the most of things, as well as masculine ones, such as attention to detail, determination and technical skills.
Interiors from Spain: This year you’ll be enjoying Valencia World Design Capital 2022. How important is this for Spanish designers? Are you participating in any of the exhibitions or activities?
Eli Gutierrez: I think the WDCValencia22 is very important, because it highlights something that has been clear for many years in Valencia, ultimately it’s a recognition of the talent that has always existed in this city, talent that was not as visible as it should have been.
I took part in a beautiful exhibition called "Designing in the Air" curated by Vicent Martínez, where several designers were given a brief to reinterpret the traditional fan. I’m also participating in an exhibition curated by journalist Tachy Mora called "Scenes from the Near Future" that will open in November at the Centro Cultural del Carmen.
Interiors from Spain: Tell us about your latest work. What brands have you been working with, and what would you highlight about your creations?
Eli Gutierrez: We're very proud of the NUANCE FR in/out fabric collection that we spent two years developing for the Spanish brand Gancedo, as it involved a long experimentation phase to try to achieve the "perfect fabric" with the best possible outdoor performance while at the same time maintaining the softness and quality of interior fabrics. To achieve this we did a lot of work on both color and texture, and after producing more than 500 samples, we decided to launch a total of 94 fabrics divided into 5 micro-collections.
There’s also the collection of OMMA and KASA lamps for the company LZF Lamps I mentioned before. It was a big challenge to make the sheets of light they are made up of fit with the concept of modularity, where the modules can be combined with each other to create a linear version where the 'sheets' rotate up to 180 degrees, allowing the user to create a range of lighting environments that adapt to different work environments and new lifestyles.
The iconic shape of the KASA lamp was inspired by the Japanese “kasa” which is a conical hat. A 2D wood veneer is mounted on a metal support that thanks to the characteristics of the material and its elasticity, folds back on itself and clips onto the "arm" of the main lamp where the light is. A sculptural bijou table lamp with two sides: one side gives a soft subdued light, and the other is much more reflective, rather like a sunrise.
Interiors from Spain: What projects are you working on at the moment? Anything outside of Spain?
Eli Gutierrez: We’re currently working on several projects both in Spain and abroad, something about furniture and interior design, but for now it's a secret, so we’ll reveal all later!