60|PROTAGONISTA At the beginning, humans understood lighting as a tool to avoid bumping into things in their spaces and hurting themselves, but today it is perceived as something broader. It is a language that wraps you and moves you... industrial design. I remember telling my parents that I was going to quit because the information evolved continuously. The same is with Lighting; it’s evolving so fast that it will always be the past, the present and the future. What about your professional future, is there anything new, a different field of work you would like to embrace? Quite honestly, I am very lucky because I am working in my three favorite disciplines: architecture, interior design and product design and I would love to keep doing it in the future. I am very restless and I like to see initiative in the people who work for me, I like to see them striving for growth. I don’t know where this will take us. We recently opened a studio in Colombia, which is something I was not expecting to do. Now, I am thinking of opening another studio but I don’t know in which country yet. Anything new seduces me. Right now, we are working many different types of projects: convention centers; large hotel spaces; important residential projects; product design for shoes, furniture, faucets. Very dissimilar. For me, the attractive lays in having something new, where we are not contaminated or conditioned by things we have done before. It’s like a breath of fresh air for the studio; we can break any preconceived notion and that’s what I like best. What will I do? I don’t know. It could be the design of a cup or an aerospace station, and to both I will say “Wow!” I would love any one of them just because they are different. Therefore, everyday offers a different challenge. Certainly, it’s an absolute challenge, especially in fashioning the analysis, the investigation of tendencies; trying to make each project a trend setter, not replicating even if you give it your imprint; in short, being in constant evolution. Personally, this is my favorite part and the most enriching one. Is there a lighting designer that you particularly admire, for its work or trajectory? There are many, but as a reference I would mention Antonio Gaudi and the way he used lighting n his work, especially natural lighting. He is a great example in this area. Also, Le Corbusier with the interdisciplinary teams he worked with. There are many contemporary examples, Ross Lovegrove a pioneer on approaching light with a futuristic outlook. A lighting project that you would like to develop in the future. A theater scenography. I love the theater and I believe that a scenography is where light can be managed best and...I’m getting goose bumps again! It’s a good place to appreciate the importance of light. It’s a static scenario, very different from the movies; it’s amazing the feelings and emotions it elicits from the audience. The project of a theater scenery would be fascinating and very revealing; I would certainly learn a lot from it. I believe the real lighting expert is there; it’s where light, shadows and twilight resides. I like twilight better than the other two. In your career, which challenge has brought you the most satisfaction? I meet it every day, when I can convince a client, who lacks sensibility to light, of the importance of lighting in a project. This, to me, is a constant challenge; many clients don’t give lighting the importance it has in big or small projects. We have faithful clients who return in 99% of cases and we have seen their opinion on the importance of lighting evolve. Before, they didn’t care for light and now, in their next project they ask: “How will you illuminate it?” They fall in love with that side of the project and they show it; they take pictures of them not only by day but by night too. That is the challenge, convert the client to a sensibility towards lighting; make him concerned not only for volume, space, colours or textures but also for lighting. In the time you have in Mexico developing your work, have you felt that Mexico offers you possibilities for developing your projects in the area of lighting, in terms of your brand as a studio? Compared to Spain, for example? In the five years I have been working in Mexico, the country has evolved in leaps and bounds. I don’t like to compare it to other countries but I can say it is moving forward. It’s a country that has treated me wonderfully and I feel comfortable with the country’s idiosyncrasies. Admittedly, I have approached here with respect; I came to offer value not to teach anybody anything. Mexico is a complex country, in a positive way. It has great influence from the United States but also, from Latin-America; competition is fierce. There are very good offices, excellent professionals and optimum results. All this has impelled me to improve myself and my team constantly; to become more creative, a better professional. I like this because it’s a day to day challenge. If I would have set office in the North Pole, I would have made a fantastic igloo but, I would have made one and it would have been over! (laughs). In Mexico there is a healthy competition. The large offices have local branches here and very good architecture is being done. It’s a challenging area but if you can make your niche here, you can do well. Luckily, we are doing great, we have several projects and we are always in the forefront to offer value, which is the goal of creating innovative projects.