Javier Mariscal

Javier Mariscal (born February 9, 1950 in Valencia ) is a Spanish designer and illustrator . He became internationally known for his product and industrial designs as well as the corporate designs for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and the corporate identity for the Expo 2000 in Hanover .

life and work

Mariscal grew up in a large family with eleven siblings in Valencia. As a child, Mariscal had a preference for comics of all kinds and began to paint little picture stories himself, which anticipated his later style. From 1967 to 1970 he studied philosophy in Valencia. In 1970 Mariscal moved to Barcelona , where he studied graphic design at the Escuela de Grafismo Elisava and still lives and works today. After a few attempts as a painter and draftsman for underground comics, he increasingly concentrated on the profession of graphic designer, illustrator and interior designer and did smaller commissioned work for Spanish companies. In 1979 he designed the logo design Bar-Cel-Ona , which made him known. In the following year he opened and designed the interior for the Duplex bar in Valencia together with Fernando Salas and designed his first masterpiece, the Duplex bar stool of the same name , a leaning and crooked chair with three different, thin legs. Having become aware of the Spaniard's postmodern designs, Ettore Sottsass invited him in 1981 to take part in the Memphis Group 's “International Style” exhibition in Milan . In 1987 Mariscal had a solo exhibition at the Center Georges-Pompidou in Paris . In the years that followed, various well-known industrial designs were created in the comic language typical of Mariscal: For example, the vase Olé with a hat and the Garriri chair with large Mickey Mouse ears on the backrest and comic shoes on the chair legs.

Cobi

In 1988, following a tender, Mariscal was awarded the contract to design a mascot for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Mariscal developed the figure "Cobi" as a figure that was popular with young and old. Cobi appeared in Mariscal's early underground comic El Rrollo Enmascarado . Mariscal later took up the comic idea again and developed the series The Cobi Troupe around Cobi .

Estudio Mariscal

Garriris , 1987, Musée National d'Art Moderne , Paris

Twipsy

Spurred on by the growing success, Mariscal expanded and founded his own design company Estudio Mariscal in Barcelona in 1989 . The new company concept aims to unite all disciplines of audio-visual and haptic design and works with renowned designers and architects such as Arata Isozaki, Alfredo Arribas, Fernando Salas, Fernando Amat and Pepe Cortés. In the following years, Estudio Mariscal was responsible for numerous well-known designs and corporate identities; The clients include a. the Swedish social democratic party Socialdemokraterna , the Spanish radio station Onda Cero , the production company Framestore CFC in London and the Lighthouse Center for Architecture and Design in Glasgow.

EXPO 2000 and Twipsy

In 1995, Estudio Mariscal won the tender for the creation of an identity design for the world exhibition Expo 2000 in Hanover with the character Twipsy . The figure was chosen from an international series. The success of the mascot led to a whole series of devotional items such as T-shirts, watches, cuddly toys or coffee mugs, as well as special postage stamps and web designs with interactive Twipsy animations. The futuristic design of the figure also sparked critical voices. In 1999, an animated television series with Twipsy was created, which was broadcast on KiKA at the same time as Expo 2000 .

Other Projects

Also in 1995 was the design for a furniture collection by the Italian manufacturer Moroso , including the Alexandra armchair , which, with its organic shapes, reflects Mariscal's characteristic extroverted and colorful design style. In 2002, Mariscal's interdisciplinary design concept reached a climax with the complete design of the Gran Hotel Domine in Bilbao , which harmonized in design with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opposite and tells the story of contemporary design of the twentieth century. Together with Fernando Salas, Mariscal designs numerous other interior design projects such as the Latin jazz club Calle 54

Since 2005 Estudio Mariscal has designed the children's furniture collection Me Too for the designer furniture company Magis ; other current projects are brand designs , web designs and interior design for IKEA in Vitoria-Gasteiz . In 2006 Mariscal took part in the ARCO art fair with the sculpture Crash! , a tribute to 1950s design - a swipe to show that confidence in the future has gone because nowadays we have to think more about how to make a future possible.

Gamba de Mariscal, Barcelona, 1989

In 2010, alongside Fernando Trueba and Tono Errando, he directed the animated film Chico & Rita , which won the award for best animated film in the AniMovie feature film competition at the 2011 Stuttgart Animated Film Festival.

Honors

In recognition of his complete work, Javier Mariscal received the Premio Nacional de Diseño (National Prize for Design) from the Spanish Ministry of Industry (MITYC) and the Barcelona Centro de Diseño (BCD) in 1995 .

Web links

Commons : Javier Mariscal - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Estudio Mariscal - Official Website

Design examples (external web links):

personal data
SURNAME	Mariscal, Javier
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Spanish designer and illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH	February 9, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH	Valencia