We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative Andrea Cecilia Alcocer Carrillo ("ACAC").

Cecilia Alcocer and Diego Lizama are young architecture students from Yucatan, Mexico. Their passion for design and architecture have led them to develop works with conceptual experimentation and social nature that have been recognized locally, nationally and internationally. Their conceptual approach is based on understanding the design as opportunities of change to transform and evolve living space, through the reformulation of current approaches to find different alternatives to what exists. Their work is described as a vital space open to the possibilities in which the most important is the mark of life itself.

Andrea Cecilia Alcocer Carrillo Designs

We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by Andrea Cecilia Alcocer Carrillo.

Designer Interview of Andrea Cecilia Alcocer Carrillo:

DI: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?

ACAC : Consciously, It was never our goal to become ourselves designers. We were always aware of all this amazing people doing amazing stuff and it made it hard for us to make the decision because we actually loved everything they were doing. This is how we realized that if we became architects we could achieve almost everything such as buildings, objects, scenes, clothing, even food. As architects we’ve acquired the sensitivity to understand and enjoy life.

DI: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?

ACAC : We like to describe our studio as a vital space, one that is open to all the possibilities in which our work can transcend in life itself. We started to work together in the midst of our career whereas we began to find opportunities of change, not with an intention of designing a product, but with the goal of getting a new way to reformulate approaches to find different alternatives to the conventional products.

DI: What is "design" for you?

ACAC : It’s an opportunity to create a change from life itself, since problems are solved from a change within the reality of a living being.

DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?

ACAC : Spaces which create different atmospheres and sensory experiences.

DI: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?

ACAC : Our favorite design would be this life, the one that we are building through design. And it’s because the object itself, the space, the drawing or the final product isn’t the most important thing. The most important thing is the fact that life gets transformed from the design itself.

DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?

ACAC : The winning logo of the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán’s 43rd anniversary Architecture School contest, which aims to celebrate the student spirit and the future’s professionists. All of this because rather than celebrating history or legacy, the important thing is betting on the institution’s future stripped of all its vices.

DI: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?

ACAC : Our favorite material would be “space”, since space it’s always in the making of multisensory experiences.

DI: When do you feel the most creative?

ACAC : Our most creative moment emerges during the understanding process of the assigned project and from questioning the project’s particular problem and it’s existing solutions.

DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?

ACAC : We believe that design can not be segmented into different aspects, because if we aim that the final product succeeds, must always be intact and organic. The first scheme is as important as the final details. Even so, for us, the most important thing would be always the added value that we give to the final result.

DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?

ACAC : Passion for what we do since we believe that with our passion we can change the world.

DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?

ACAC : Enormous happiness when we prove that the result satisfies and makes users happy, but also looking forward to starting over again when this doesn’t happen.

DI: What makes a design successful?

ACAC : The happiness within all the people who interact with it.

DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?

ACAC : The project’s capacity to provoke something in people’s lives.

DI: When was your last exhibition and where was it? And when do you want to hold your next exhibition?

ACAC : This happened during the framework of the “Expo Mueble Internacional de verano 2016” in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico. And we would like soon to be held within the framework of the Design Week of a world design capital.

DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?

ACAC : It comes from the situations and behaviors in people’s lives and their surroundings.

DI: How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?

ACAC : Evolutionist. It’s all about questioning the current arguments and betting on the prospective vision of the world. This is what makes us bet and want to explore so much more about evolution in all its aspects and translate it into design.

DI: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?

ACAC : We live in the city of Mérida in México. The political, social and economic problems that Mexico and Latin America are facing these days have made us realize of all the challenges of our reality, which is why we put a lot of emphasis on betting on the future.

DI: What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?

ACAC : The experience and training of a designer is always beneficial, especially when design isn’t the companies’ main field. This is why the external and professional look of a designer will always bring an important added value.

DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?

ACAC : Our design process is never a linear one, however, most of the time we start with a research and an approach to the subject indeed; then the most important part of the process begins. It’s about questioning the existing models and repertoires in order to generate the approach of a conceptual idea that offers new alternatives. In order to mature the idea, it’s important to make a self-critic and to get an external opinion that help feeding the proposal into a conception of a general scheme, leading later to the detailed definition of it. If the proposal gets materialized, it’s important to carry out the verification and evaluation of the thesis, if the results aren’t satisfying, it’s necessary to generate a new approach.

DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?

ACAC : Netflix. In addition to distracting and amusing us, it is useful to see how other people around the world understand, conceptualize, describe and capture reality. Benjamin. Our cat is also an indispensable part of the design team. Food and sweets. Which are always good for energy. Paper and pencils. As allies to not forget anything. Whiteboard. It is always good to have a space to capture and see the complete image, the general outline, its details, the thing to do and the relation that time has with all of this and our lives.

DI: Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?

ACAC : Never lose the desire to want to change the world making use of our vitality and inexperience, but above all do not be afraid of failure.

DI: From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?

ACAC : The fun of being a designer lies in always having in mind a complete image of the reality that surrounds us, which allows us to have a wide field of work; And the negative thing is that when you do not have all this you are out.

DI: What is your "golden rule" in design?

ACAC : Always doubt everything.

DI: What skills are most important for a designer?

ACAC : The ability to be critical and analytical at all times.

DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?

ACAC : A lot of paper sheets and pencils to express ideas, which are complemented and detailed through drawing software, modeling and rendering.

DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?

ACAC : Always visualizing the complete image of things. The day is like a dish full of food, when you serve you add ingredients and complements.

DI: How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?

ACAC : It may take minutes, or it may take years.

DI: What is the most frequently asked question to you, as a designer?

ACAC : We are frequently asked why did we decide to become designers

DI: What was your most important job experience?

ACAC : The realization of architectural projects in which a community is involved, such as the project we are developing in the "Science Park of the Scientific Society” in the town of Dzán, in Yucatan, Mexico.

DI: Who are some of your clients?

ACAC : We like to do social projects, that is why we have worked architectural projects in mainly rural communities, however, we have done housing and residential projects for different types of families.

DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?

ACAC : Projects of conceptual experimentation, in which the most important thing is not its feasibility to be realized today, but in approaching to make possible the utopia, since they are the most creative projects that feed the evolution and the future.

DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?

ACAC : To develop, enrich and promote the evolutionary ideology, because what we want is to contribute to the improvement of the world.

DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?

ACAC : Our studio is led by us, Cecilia and Diego, and we love working on the creative process and development of the proposals in collaborations with other architects, multidisciplinary teams and people of the local community.

DI: Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?

ACAC : We are currently developing architectural works of social nature in our native communities: The Science Park in Dzán, Yucatan, Mexico, which is a botanical garden whose aim is to teach science, culture and nature to young people of the Local community. The Great Garden of Xcalakdzonot located in Chancom, Yucatan, Mexico whose purpose is to create a playful space of well-being in which the inhabitants can consolidate a community participatory clinic and at the same time celebrate their collective identity. Both projects are currently under construction.

DI: How can people contact you?

ACAC : Through our website: www.laar.mx and by our email: laar.mx@gmail.com

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

ACAC : Not for the moment.