Interview with Wanna One

Design is in everything, even in the little things most people don’t think about. We believe in making the world a better place, and design is our way, our tool.

For the two of us, design has been part of our lives since we were little girls, and it was evident that we would work in the sector as adults. Back then though, words like “Marketing”, “Design” or “Interiorism” didn’t have the deep meaning they have now for us.

We are passionate about global projects in which all efforts come together to help the final design. We care about our clients and we try to help their brands grow. We want them to become bigger and better with every step, no matter if it’s in a digital or an analogical way. A brand can’t be built in a day: coherence, rigour and creativity are its best allies.

Be confident, work hard and don’t count the hours you spend working. Work as a team.

The level of emotion the design brings with it when it’s completed. If people are receptive to the design and it produces a positive emotion, then we can say it’s a success.

Simplicity, functionality and the ability of cause an positive emotion.

A good design makes people feel better. A good design, such as a piece of furniture, can become the centre of a room, or change the style of a whole house. It can become part of your life. A good design, no matter if we are talking about a home or an office, can have an influence on people, built environment is more important than we think! Besides, good design is always a good investment.

A home furniture collection and a line of decoration accessories. Our dream is to collaborate with Seletti, one of our favourite brands.

We are very lucky because we are working in one of our dreamed projects at the moment. We are designing and creating a GastroHostel in the centre of Madrid. The project is not ready yet, so we can’t tell you much about it!

The concept. Without a good business strategy and a good concept behind it, the recipe doesn’t work...

Eames, Philippe Starck, Jaime Hayon, Studio jobs, Cul de Sac and many more…

Cathy Figueiredo: Ornamante, (www.ornamante.com) its hipo makes me smile every day.
Esther Mengual: Tania Da Cruz, (www.taniadacruzdesign.com) for the freshness and positivity of her designs.

Lock & Be Free, for the simplicity of its concept and its chromatic and architecture strength.

Travelling, going to exhibitions, enjoying life!

We have to confess that we love our jobs, but if we hadn’t become designers, Esther would had been an artist, and Cathy would had become an architect.

Our mentor Pepe Crespo. He is one of the best spanish high level marketing specialists. The years we spent collaborating have enriched us both personally and professionally. https://www.linkedin.com/in/pepecrespo

Our will for improving, the wish of making things better every time, and to design and create projects which make people happier.

The worst obstacle is the mistrust a client could have concerning our proposal about a project.

Each project is different, and should be presented in a unique way. Even if you have you universe design, and understanding that your presentations must fit in your style, you have to be original and authentic. If you present everything with the same format, creativity fades away.

We are now absorbed into the creation of a GastroHostel in the centre of Madrid. It’s going to be an interactive and surprising meeting point for the people of Madrid and for the people visiting the city.

To thrill people with our designs.

Surprising and profitable projects.

Functionality and esthetic make our world nicer and more comfortable.

The GastroHostel in the centre of Madrid is our current project. It will be finished in autumn. We are creating a unique experience in its area which will surprise for its freshness and creativity.

Every project we have created until this date has been very satisfying. Each one of them made us grow personally and professionally. All of them have been important. It’s remarkable though, as you can imagine, when one of your projects is recognized and published. It’s always exciting when you see your work side by side with projects made by people you admire.

Esther Mengual: We need young designers to make more products which make us smile.

Cathy Figueiredo: We need more exchanges and feedback between professions to feed and enrich the design process in order to make better designs. Also, sustainability and positivity should be fundamental in every job.

Design will become a fundamental part of strategic decisions for companies.

It depends of every project, its complexity and how long it takes to develop every part of it.

We always start auditing the sector, identifying the competition at a national and international level and investigating market trends.

To infinity and beyond!

There are so many different kind of designs: the ones which set the trends, the ones following the trends, without contributing or adding anything new and the ones which are atemporal.

We use technology every day and it is part of all of our process design. We are in touch through email and skype, we use design software, etc.

We all work with Apple equipment. For software we use from Microsoft Office, to Adobe or Autocad and Revit. It depends on the project.

A good design implies a perfect selection of the chromatic range and the materials we use. In all our projects, color is a fundamental part of them. We love chromatisms and we can spend hours talking about colour tones.

Did you have complete freedom to suggest and develop this project or did you have many limitations?

“I wanna one!” ☺

We believe in working as a team, in fact we create our teams depending on the projects to guarantee the professionalism, flexibility and creativity at all times.

Each project has made us learn new things and develop our abilities. We adapt to circumstances and keep growing every day.

It is the first one and we hope to have more than one!

Color: Yellow
Place: The next one we will discover
Food: Asian food
Thing: A great book
Brand: Seletti

Enjoy the big hug of a woman and how thankful she was because we gave her so much joy and laughs at an event we created in Madrid in 2016. “Lava tus trapos sucios” meaning “wash your dirty clothes”. In Spanish is an expression meaning “Confess your secrets”.

We are thankful everyday for being able to work in our passion.

Since she was little Esther said she wanted to do the adverts she saw on TV, of course, back then she didn’t even know the meaning of the word “design”.

Have you watched Black Mirror? (Joke)

We are specialists in conceptualize unique branding universes. We have been working over 15 years in this sector. We love making 360º projects in which we always start with a sector audit and we check the trends so we can figure out and define the ideal positioning for the brand in the market, we create branding, image strategy and communication, digital and analogue supports… In conclusion, we take charge of every aspect of branding. A wrong action when it comes to branding produces a diversion from the programmed objectives. At first sight it might not seem important, but if the diversion continues, in a short time brand strategy can be completely lost. Brand consolidate is a day by day work. Every action is important. To strengthen them every detail counts, and we really care to help them in all the branding facets.

Design is in everything. It makes life easier, nice and pretty.

Brands, Graphic design & Interiorism

We love design in all its representations, and we couldn’t choose one of them. Choosing one would mean resign to too much talent. Nowadays, we are very lucky because we can access to design in a very simple way, and we are amazed by our society creative capacity.

A brand for a small local company. At that time it was our lifetime project. Since then, every single one of our projects has been our lifetime project… Every project coming to our studio makes us passionate, we work and fight for it as much as if it was our own business.

Material: Wood & Ceramic
Platform: Instagram
Technology: Internet

All day long. Each moment can be The moment to be creative.

The concept is always guiding the design development. Then we focus on functionality and create positive emotions.

Passion. Happiness. Excitement.

Proud and happiness.

Clarity and the simplicity of the concept.

First of all the concept (it’s coherent with the business and its corporate objectives), then the simplicity and the consistency of the design (it transmits correctly the company values and will) and finally the perfect execution (caring about details makes the difference).

Help creating a more sustainable, functional and positive world.

Design world is becoming more collective and cooperative. Design is going to be gradually incorporated to administration councils, becoming a fundamental part of the decisions at a high level in the future.

We have never made an exhibition.

Everywhere: Internet, exhibitions, travels, TV series, casual chats with friends… Inspiration arrives at the most unexpected moments.
Besides, we do look for sources of inspiration, we normally visit art fairs, design exhibitions, and we are always looking for new trends in our sector. We love being updated and open to new discoveries, research is a fundamental part of our job, and we really enjoy it.

Our style is clear, simple and always positive. We love to thrill people with our designs.
We have an open mind, which we think is fundamental in design. When we start a new project we always investigate the sector, so we learn and experience what’s been done. Then we try to be original and innovative. There’s no point in making what others are doing, we have a personal style and we like to make a difference. That’s also why all our designs are so different from one another.

We live in Madrid and in Dénia. The capital city and the coast town, two completely different lifestyles, two visions, always with the same objective: create unique branding universes.

Esther Mengual is Spanish and Cathy Figueiredo is French. Of course both cultures have an influence in our designs, our cultural heritage is part of us.

The fact that we experience different kind of living in the same country every day makes a difference for us, because we always have two points of view for everything. Spain has been a very multicultural country in the past, and it’s becoming more and more global everyday. We see this as an advantage, because it definitely helps improving our designs, inspiring us every day.

Our studio is always very close. We are direct and honest. Every project implies a lot of passion and rigour.

Of course you have to check their previous work, and get to know them, etc. But mostly we think you have to follow your intuition, trust your feelings when you have to decide if you have to work with someone.

We always start auditing the sector, we learn and check as much information as we can, to have a complete idea of where and how place our project. We start building the project from the basis and we have meetings with our clients during the process in order to show them the progress and to hear them out to optimize the strategic plans and design.

Piece of old furniture
Favorite Things of Chen Karlsson Lamp
Eames house bird
Aitor Saraiba Sculpture
Seletti Monkey lamp

We start early at 8:00 a.m. connecting to Skype. Our job team is working from different locations, and that’s our way of working together and communicate all the time. Every day is different. We don’t have a fixed end time. At the Wanna One Studio routine doesn’t exist.

Follow your intuition, don’t stop looking for new things, and share your passion with others.

The most positive is having the opportunity of creating new worlds. It is thrilling and so rewarding.

Concept simplicity is key.

In our opinion, curiosity and being willing to learn new things, with no doubt.

Anything that helps us in a specific moment. We don’t work all the time with the same tools. We look for new tools every time we need something new, we try to improve all the time.

Time is infinite when your job is your passion ;)

It depends on the object. There are no rules. Sometimes an “easier” object takes longer than another one, depends on the concept, the process, the materials, so many things.

What is your methodology when it comes to create new concepts?

Every project we have finished to this date has been important… All of them have enriched us and made us grow in a personal and professional way.

The projects in which we are completely absorbed: 360º projects.

We are now creating a Gastrohostel in the center of Madrid.

Our work team changes depending on the projects we are developing. We always work with the best freelances of every field to get fresh concepts, flexibility and top creativity. Although, for every project we work together, every one of us in their own speciality, but always in touch with everyone else.

The gastrohostel we are designing in the centre of Madrid. For the moment is the most important project the studio has been involved this year.

By phone at 00 34 619 345 549 o by mail hello@wannaone.com