Paola Irazábal by Camila Cardeñosa
Paola Irazábal is a talented editorial and exhibition designer from Santiago de Chile. Learning Paola’s story was a great surprise. We both work in the same areas of design and have had similar design journeys. It was such a pleasure to chat with her about the craft of designing books, experience of working on art exhibitions, and we even dream about creating similar projects in the future. I felt as though I was chatting with my design sister.
Paola started her professional career in one of the most important Cultural Centres in Santiago, where she became passionate about book and exhibition design. After spending eight years designing many exhibitions and art books, she felt it was time to start her own studio: EstudioPi (@estudiopi). Based in her studio, Paola still has the opportunity to work with various artists and museums recognised in her country.
Paola believes strongly in the power of collaboration and every project she works on involves collaborating with a group of people that contribute their individual expertise, including: architects, researchers, artists, curators, and editors among others. During the process, she finds inspiration in their ideas, joins forces with them and ends up with a project that they all feel proud of. As she tells us, “they often show me different visual references and designs; it’s mostly books that I learn from. Sometimes they have ideas for paper or inks that can help think the art book as an object and in the end it is not only my own design, it becomes a shared one.”
Besides finding inspiration through her collaborators, Paola also gets ideas from her students and fellows at Diego Portales University, where she has taught for some time now. Sharing ideas with each of her students helps her stay up-to-date: “They show me new fonts and new technologies, and they even teach me new sayings and new slang sentences.” The exchange of views and knowledge that take place within her classes, nurtures her not only in her design practice, but also her personal life.
During our chat, we talked about dream projects. Paola dreams of being able to design exhibitions and catalogues for large museums or cultural centres such as, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, or the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In the meantime, we dream together of a collaboration in the very near future, perhaps doing a DesignbyWomen exhibition, which can travel from city to city, around the world.
While we wait for our dream to come true, I chatted with Paola to learn more about her story, tips for new designers, and how she feels being a woman in the design field.
When did you realise that you were interested in design and that you wanted to work as a designer and illustrator?
I have always been very curious about art and illustration and their impact throughout history. From a very young age, I was taught to observe, read, visit museums and live a life around culture. When I was deciding what subject I wanted to study, I realised that design could be a good career to channel and complement various disciplines that I liked, most notably art, illustration and design.
I always wanted to work on issues related to culture and over time things came naturally to me to fulfil my goals. As one grows, one understands better the decisions that are made in life. Being within the world of design and seeing that it is everywhere, inspires and motivates me to be part of a movement towards a better society. I like being able to contribute even something small; it makes me feel part of something bigger.
Being within the world of design and seeing that it is everywhere, inspires and motivates me to be part of a movement towards a better society. I like being able to contribute even something small; it makes me feel part of something bigger.
Tell me about your career so far. What steps got you to where you are now?
I studied graphic design and I have an MA in Book and Magazine Publishing and Graphic Industries. After finishing my university studies I went to work at La Moneda Cultural Center @ccplm, one of the most important cultural centres in Chile, where some great exhibitions have been held. I was in charge of the centre’s art direction. I worked mostly on way-finding, museology and editorial design for books and exhibition catalogues. During these years I gained experience, worked in diverse teams and learnt about how cultural institutions function from the inside. After 8 years, I made the decision to set up my own graphic design studio, Estudio Pi @estudiopi, where I have been lucky enough to work on wonderful projects. During these recent years I have specialised in editorial design and museology which is reflected in all the projects that I now work on. In parallel to this and since I finished studying design, I started an academic career and have taught at university level for several years. I have always liked teaching very much and feel that it complements my growth as a professional.
What do you enjoy most about being a designer and illustrator?
I enjoy being able to do something that I like and feel passionate about every day. I think I am very lucky. Not everyone works at things they like and that, for me, is priceless. Being happy in what you work at turns it into a lifestyle rather than a job as such.
I also like very much being able to combine my design and illustration skills and apply them in certain projects. I enjoy the complete creative process of a project, especially observing how it gets printed, being among the papers, inks and machines and watching the result as it becomes real.
Has being a woman it impacted your career?
Being a woman has had a positive impact on my career. I have worked with many talented women who have helped me a lot to improve my work, from my own work team, who have almost always been women designers, to being part of powerful work groups in different projects. I have worked closely with editors, illustrators, journalists, historians, artists and women active in the world of culture and art. Furthermore, many of my clients are women, who have always believed in me and my work.
I know that you are a professor at Diego Portales University in Santiago. What has been your experience of teaching so far?
My experience as a professor has always been very enriching to my practice and I enjoy it very much, especially my editorial design workshop. Being able to pass on the experience that I have built up, keeping up-to-date and being able to bring it to the students is essential to teaching a good course.
In addition, being able to see how the students progress, where they start the course to the work created at the end of it, is very rewarding – seeing good results can be achieved in a very short time. Besides, I learn a lot from them too. I find being close to younger people nourishing since they have a different reality that enriches me as a person and as a professional. I’m currently taking a course in university teaching, which will give me more tools to teach a better class.
How do you get inspired? What are your first steps in starting a new project?
I research and look at different styles, illustration work, and graphic projects. I also get inspiration from other disciplines, for example, I’m often inspired by looking at the work of different artists or cultural movements.
Another thing that I find really stimulating are the materials that I am going to use; the types of paper and its diversity of sizes, shapes and colours, and the different types of binding. I like to imagine what the project would be like in different variants .
What advice would you give to women who are currently thinking about starting a creative career?
Experiment as many times as necessary. Explore new styles, keep updated, never stop studying and believe in your own abilities. For me creativity is 10% design skills and the remaining 90% is perseverance, study and passion for what you do.
For me creativity is 10% design skills and the remaining 90% is perseverance, study and passion for what you do.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Presenting my career and my design studio abroad, and being able to show Chilean design and the contribution we make as Latin American designers. I also see myself making links with diverse cultures and people that inspire me, creating a community around design and education.
Which female designers, artists, photographers, creatives inspire you?
There are many women who inspire me, each one a specialist in her field. They include powerful women in the world and in Latin America such as Sophie Calle, Laurie Anderson, Liliana Porter, Paula Scher, Vivian Maier, and Matilde Pérez, among others.
Are there any creative women whose current work you find especially inspirational?
- Frankie Ratford: @thedesignkids
- Jing Zhang: @mrsjwignall
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Article by Camila Cardeñosa
Camila Cardeñosa is one of our DesignbyWomen collaborators who has curated and written a series of inspirational features showcasing Spanish speaking female designers based in Latin America and Europe.