A graduate in Industrial Design from the Elisava School of Design in Barcelona, the designer Mario Ruiz founded his own studio in 1995. At that moment he began to develop work that focused specifically on product design. Until 2003 he worked primarily in the fields of technology and office furniture design, but nowadays he works for internationally renowned national and foreign firms on a wide range of sectors such as technological products, furniture, lighting, office equipment, applied graphics and brand identity. Recent interventions in interior design and commercial architectural constructions are also worth mentioning.
Mario Ruiz considers himself a highly technical designer, which helps him pull it off successfully in accordance with the manufacturer’s requirements. The subject of the home has always interested him. He considers that furniture endures the test of time, while technology has expiry date. “Great chair design can be passed on to another generation whilst technological objects have a very short life”. He says as well that “in the world of furniture he tries to make contents that have something to do with the structure of the building, where one should feel well in oneself”.
The Spanish designer declares that “all he and his team really want to do is work, and the more and the more varied, the merrier”, even though Mario Ruiz stands out on the office furniture market, where he has noticeably broken through. There is no room for doubt that his office furniture, essential and refined, has allowed him to win the most important international awards and to earn a place among the design elite.
His projects in this sector include the famous award-winning Zas and Dis range of chairs designs and, more recently, the Nova collection. However, the studio’s office furniture production is not just limited to seating. Its latest ranges of table designs include the Qadro executive range for Steelcase, the K-22 collection of general office furniture for the Haworth Group, the Corner range of executive desks for Citterio, whose name comes from the symphony of encounters that take place on corners. In addition to his office designs, Mario Ruiz’s portfolio also includes the Flat collection of outdoor furniture for Gandía Blasco, the Panamá and Tequila lighting designs for Metalarte, the Deck sofa for Joquer, the Fuori bench for Viccarbe, the Frame, Wall and G3 lighting solutions for B.Lux, the new Domo phone for Telefónica, manufactured by Siemens, and the M-270 coffee maker for Moka. Together with these and other firms, through his skills and multidisciplinary experience in so many fields, he has won the confidence of some of the largest companies in each sector, including Siemens, Thomson, Schneider Electric, Teka, Viccarbe, Joquer, Grupo Permasa, Blauet HBF, MDF, and the list goes on.
His work has been recognized with more than 30 prestigious awards in Europe and the United Status. These have included various Red Dot, IF, Design Plus, Wallpaper Awards08 and ADI-FAD Silver Delta Awards.
Mario Ruiz moves effortlessly between projects that require very different responses, although they all share his essential understanding of design, which is “to understand the space where they are located, with no conflicts or cracks, beauty and utility”. He describes his perception of the notion of design as a project tool, stripped of superficiality, while at the same time he always strives to achieve a soothing response, a good solution and a rewarding bond between customer and product.
