Mireia Ruiz, 1983, Barcelona. Graphic designer, she completed her higher education at the BAU design school in Barcelona. After being part of DGestudio, in 2008 she joined Cocolia, where she took charge of its art direction. Today she, she together with Raúl Ramos, runs the studio in harmony and with creative freedom.
He currently teaches classes on “Experimental projects and creativity” at the IDEP school, in the postgraduate courses in Fashion, Graphics and Photography.
He combines his profession as a graphic artist with his more artistic side, with which he has participated in different artistic and creative projects.
How would you define your work?
I am Mireia Ruiz (aka @mireiaysuscosas) born in Barcelona, I am part of the creative studio Cocolia. I am a lover of painting and art, I would spend the day painting. From balls, vases, camisetas, chairs, even the brushes I have also painted. I combine this artistic need with my profession as a graphic designer, and in creative, photographic or art projects. set design. Working many hours on the computer gives me the need to work with my hands, so I dedicate any break to relax with brushes and colors.
Who do you have as a reference or what do you use as inspiration?
I like to think of feminine, colorful artistic references with personality. Like the designer Iris Apfel, or the poet Etel Adnan or the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. I need references in which I feel identified as a woman and as a creative. And in that scene my contemporaries also appear, very talented and with great work, such as: Coco Dávez, Mercedes Bellido, Vega Hernando, Krizia Robustella, or Miranda Makaroff, … and many more that fill me with energy!
As for what I use as inspiration, from the Memphis movement, very much from the 80's, a colorful era that I enjoyed as a child. But also everyday things, like going to second-hand markets and buying things that help me imagine new objects just with a coat of paint.
(http://www.cocolia.cat/en/see/project/159/MY-HAPPY-CHAIR-MIREIA-RUIZ-2015)
What materials do you usually use for your works?
My works that stand out the most are acrylic on canvas, and the other half are with cardboard, also altered with acrylics or adhesives. The latter allow me to make compositions with flat colors quickly and I get formal conclusions that I then take to the canvas. We can say that the cardboard works are rehearsals for when I don't have time to pick up the paints.
On the other hand, as I have mentioned, I give a second life to what falls into my hands, and I use specific paints for wood or ceramics. Or I have even dared to paint my clothes… I love it!
What do you ask of painting?
I don't ask for anything, painting is magic! It makes things or ideas transform into new objects! Painting has always made me happy, and it continues to do so, it is part of my daily life, and it is what makes me happy.
In your color palette, what is essential?
In my palette, there can be all the colors, but I am a big fan of RED, and I would also need a Cobalt Blue... as well as a line in pastels to contrast, like an apple green or a peach (light salmon). But also a black and a ocher…
