Sensitivity by all means: Interview with Beatriz Rubio (Studio Azul)
Transforming the technical aspects of an environment into "tools of expression", as she puts it, is a statement of intent. Sensitivity, well-being and light. Lots of light.
There are 3 essential pillars underpinning the projects of Beatriz, interior architect at Studio Azul (@_studioblue on Instagram): shapes, materials and light. With them he manages to get the best out of each space, always with a very clear objective: to improve the lives of the people who inhabit them. Find out more about his projects and inspirations in this interview.
Tell us about yourself and your work. Where did your vocation start? Any first memories?
Sensitivity has always led me by the hand and finally brought me here, she has found in my profession that outlet that makes me see the essence and the light of the spaces, I try to turn the places I find myself in to give them a bit of soul. Aligned with she I create a discourse with the space, a little thread that combines colours, textures, materials, and... light, light is something magical that generates amazing sensations and atmospheres that you are not able to imagine until you see it. In short, a conceptual reflection, but from the heart, that makes other people's lives more beautiful because they are going to live that space with other sensations, those that provoke that new atmosphere, coldness or warmth through touch, for example, or comfort, or the new soundscape and lighting or even smell.
One of the first memories I have of my professional life was the first time I materialised a work, it's my drawing", I thought, and so it was, it came true. When I remember it, I still feel that mixture of fear and adrenaline rush.
What do you find most satisfying about your work, and any that you are particularly proud of?
A place that does not wait, that welcomes you and invites you to be, to connect, that is how the exhibition "Comuneros: 500 years" that I have just finished was conceived, and that was the intention, to transport the spectator five centuries in time. The same thing happens to me with the Juan Bravo Restaurant, where the warmth it conveys makes it a different restaurant, also in keeping with its new gastronomic concept. Or the opening towards light, towards the garden, towards tranquillity in the centre of a city like Madrid, is the treatment with which I am conceptualising one of the homes we now have in hand.
What is your creative process like, any particular music while working?
Oh the emptiness, the emptiness of a blank piece of paper! It's like being in the abyss, then you have to be emboldened, pick up your pencil and mouse and start drawing between the computer and the colours of a sketch and sketches of crooked lines and reference images, a totum revolutum, which you don't know how it will be ordered in a minute in your head, while the music never stops playing, never stops playing.
Favourite colour, book, film and record - in that order! ;D
Blue! The blue of the sea, the Klein blue, the blue of Frida's house and I could go on... Now there's no doubt about my name, is there?
I felt pure emotion when I read The Disencounter, I guess that's what happened to Fernando Schwartz when he wrote it.
The great beauty, How many times have I seen it! By the great Paolo Sorrentino.
All the time it can be looped Boxer, by The National.
Is your home a reflection of who you are? Tell us what it smells like, your favourite corner, your favourite decorative object or piece of furniture, if you treasure a collection... And if you have a pet, introduce it to us!
My house often smells of cedar. It's like bringing in that force of nature, which is why I also have a lot of plants, essential to feel at home.
I had a fixation for the Cesta lamp by Miguel Milá since school, so as soon as I could I got one 🙂 Another great treasure are my books by Luis Barragán that I usually buy in Mexico, it's a great source of inspiration.
If you could buy anything right now and take it home, what would it be? Anything!
A plane ticket to anywhere on the other side of the world! I would bring home all the colours, aromas, landscapes and people you discover, I miss travelling a lot, it is necessary to grasp the true reality, your outlook on life changes when you travel.
A great plan at home always includes...
Good wine and good music, no doubt.
Do you have a signature dish?
I won't be the one to make you a good paella, hahaha, but I love rice.
Where is your favourite place in your city and abroad?
I love those places where you can work, have a coffee, meet someone, eat or stay all day without anyone asking you anything, as if you were anywhere in the world, that's why I go a lot to La Molienda in Palma, one of those cafés with the aroma of the Caribbean.
And the Patio Azul in Mexico City, an essential place for me every time I go there, I feel Mexican by adoption and by heart.
