Founded in Valencia in 1994 by Rafa Ortega and Cristina Gutiérrez, Gutiérrez & Ortega is an industrial and graphic design studio that offers clients comprehensive solutions tailored to their needs.
Rafa is a passionate innovator and tireless visionary. From his mind, heart, and hands have emerged dozens of patents that help make the world more comfortable and sustainable: tables with anti-wobble stabilizers, acoustically variable ceilings, face shields, magnetic lamps, biophilic, sound-absorbing planters, anti-vibration wheels for hospitals, aluminum furniture, folding training tables, and much more.
Together with Cristina, the studio has provided stand-out solutions for their clients, guiding them through every stage of a new project, from identifying a need to launching the final product and ensuring its effectiveness. They assist with all creative and production processes, whether graphic or industrial.The studio uses graphic and industrial design to serve the company and meet its specific needs.
Rafa Ortega’s product designs have earned multiple international awards. Most recently, in 2025, they received an iF Design Award for the VARETA wall covering created for Greenarea, an American Good Design Award, a French Design Award, and an IDEA (International Design Excellence Award) for the BOLA series of casters designed for Robby, and a HiP Award 2025 for the KHRONOS collection for Kriskadecor.
We spoke with Rafa Ortega and Cristina Gutiérrez to talk about the studio’s journey, their most notable creations, and the projects they’re currently working on:
Interiors from Spain: After more than 30 years in the field, how do you keep yourselves motivated to make each new project your best?
Gutiérrez and Ortega: Experience teaches you a lot. It helps you understand life better, what’s truly worth your time, and what isn’t worth spending a single minute on. This means that, putting creativity aside, there’s only one way to do things: WELL.
Interiors from Spain: Do your products have any recognizable hallmarks?
Rafa Ortega: Over the years, our more than 40 patents and registrations have given the studio a rather unique profile. Some clients affectionately remark that we’re just as much inventors as we are designers.
Designing a ceiling (FLAP—iF Design Award winner in 2024) that allows for variable acoustics and lighting filters that can be adjusted to the user's liking, as well as working with color, is already something that sets us apart. We also hold a worldwide, triple-A patent—the only one of its kind—for tables that are truly sTABLE. Aluminum-extrusion furniture for the firm DO+CE, some of which are installed in museums, libraries, and cutting-edge homes. Wheels with front brakes or shock absorbers to minimize noise in hospitals.
Cristina Gutiérrez: I’d just like to add that when it comes to product design, Rafa’s designs are usually very dynamic—there’s always a moving element that adds value to the piece. They’re rarely one-off pieces, as they can always be turned into a larger family. And clients often rely on us to handle the art direction and design of product catalogs, which we really enjoy doing.
Interiors from Spain: By the way, have your everyday work tools changed in a big way over these last few decades? Which new digital tools do you find most useful for designing today? Are there any old tools you miss?
Gutiérrez and Ortega: When it comes to our process, we’re conservative at the very first stage—everything is sketched, carefully considered, and repeated until we achieve the best design. After that, we rely on digital tools, as the industry demands, whether we’re working on handcrafted pieces or large-scale production.
Interiors from Spain: You’ve mainly specialized in product and graphic design. How do you decide who does what in the studio? How do you collaborate with each other on joint designs?
Gutiérrez and Ortega: We’re fortunate to have both areas covered. When we submit a product design and the client decides to create the catalog on their own, they’ll never be able to capture the best feature of every detail or give it the same attention as the designer who created it. That alone is a huge advantage. At the same time, this approach creates a feedback loop—it keeps everyone more involved.
Rafael is the industrial designer, and Cristina takes care of the graphic side, but most work decisions are made collaboratively by the whole team before anything reaches the client, especially when a project involves a full integrated design, including the catalog.
We’re proud to say that Vanesa and Jordi have been an important part of our team for over 20 years, supporting us every step of the way.
Interiors from Spain: In your opinion, what are the essential ingredients for creating a good design?
Rafael Ortega: I see myself as a scanner, an observer. I’m always noticing that most things could be done better, or I’m impressed by how well something is made or solved. Everything, to me, is worthy of observation and analysis. I don’t see this as an obsession—I just think that almost everything can either be improved or praised. One example is that uncomfortable chairs are still being manufactured without considering ergonomic comfort.
Creativity is essential, but so is defining and controlling every other stage of the process. That’s how we approach each project.
Daily work with the right tools combined with clear communication and careful supervision at every stage: these are always our formula for delivering a successful project and guaranteeing the expected results. “A good design is one that not only inspires emotion, but also provides a tangible, functional solution—a true invention that adds real value.”
Interiorsfrom Spain: You’ve worked with clients from all kinds of habitat sectors. Have any materials or projects surprised you?
Gutiérrez and Ortega: Materials are one of the key elements of good design: their origin, durability, user characteristics. The client’s philosophyis almost the most important part. We work almost exclusively with sustainable materials—recycled or reclaimed resources, natural fibers, vegetation, recycled bottles—because, after all, we only have one planet.
Interiors from Spain: Since 2017, you’ve been developing the design and international patents for the “esTABLEes” anti-wobble system. How did the project come about, and what solutions did you bring to it?
Gutiérrez and Ortega: The economy took a hard hit in 2008, and companies were hesitant to invest.
In 2013, I opened a studio in China to meet the high demand there. There was great potential, but reconciling cultural differences was a challenge.
In 2016, we were still navigating the post-crisis period, and esTABLEes emerged during this time of reinvention for everyone. It’s the result of experience, careful observation, and my interest in combining different disciplines with different suppliers. This approach is ideal for having every creative and material element at your disposal.With all this, and knowing that stabilizing tables were a real need, the idea naturally came to life.
We hold two international patents for the esTABLEes system, along with its improvements and variations. ? We were awarded a Triple A rating*High in strategic, technical, and commercial value*:- A* for its high level of innovation (novel and unique).- A* for its *solid legal protection* (well-drafted and hard to circumvent).- A* for its *market potential* (profitable and key to gaining a competitive edge).
For us, it wasn’t just about creating the leveling systems and deciding that we needed to patent them. We also knew that no one could design the tables where the system would be applied better than we could.
esTABLEes tables are versatile and adapt to any style. They can have 4 legs, a central pedestal, or a spoked base, among other features. Most models accommodate level differences of up to 40 mm.
Of course, the studio also handles the full corporate and graphic identity of the project—from branding and catalogs to the website and social media content— carefully considering every investment necessary to make the project viable.
Interiors from Spain: Your product designs have won prestigious international awards. What does this recognition mean for your studio?
Gutiérrez and Ortega: It’s always motivating to receive an award. But honestly, these awards exist because our clients get excited and believe the project deserves recognition—they believe in the product. What’s even more rewarding for us is seeing their satisfaction and feeling that enthusiasm rub off on us.
Interiors from Spain: What’s your outlook for the future of product design in Spain? What advice would you give emerging design talents trying to establish themselves in the industry? What about industrial and graphic design students?
Gutiérrez and Ortega: Design has always been a challenge in Spain. Few companies truly recognize its value. Many focus more on media visibility instead.
Fortunately, more and more clients—not just in furniture or home goods—are beginning to see design as a powerful way to set themselves apart, and they’re also starting to value the way it’s presented. Think of pruning shears, a ladder, a shopping cart, or an online delivery cart—even the delivery workers themselves still lack proper safety solutions. Or consider thermal clothing for outdoor professionals: when it’s 42 degrees Celsius, it’s simply impossible to work as a delivery worker, bricklayer, or street sweeper.
Interiors from Spain: What projects are you working on now? Any with international clients?
Rafa Ortega and Cristina Gutiérrez: We’re proud to keep growing alongside our clients and that they continue to rely on us as their brands expand. One example is Vericat: after more than 10 years, they still entrust us with the visual identity of their clinics in different cities across Spain. We’ve just completed the design for their new clinics in Bilbao.
We’ve also been working with Dileoffice for over 20 years, and we continue to develop new seating collections with them—often along with their graphic design—like our latest, the AITANA line.
This month the KHRONOS catalog for Kriskadecor will be launched, a major industrial-level project developed in our studio, and we’re very pleased with the results.
Another project we’re very excited about is the one we’re developing for Unnom, where we’re using 100% recycled material sourced directly from collected plastics, like Tetra Brik.
As we like to say in this case: from waste to value, from disuse to use. We’re also working on the catalog for this project.
As for international clients, we’re currently working with two— one in Switzerland and another in Colombia—each with a different approach and way of understanding design. In both cases, they come to us specifically looking for patentable, stand-out products and new ways of using them.
The truth is, every project excites us; otherwise, we wouldn't be able to develop them the way we like.
