Interview with Moisés Hernández, Winner of the British Council’s Creative Economy YCE Fashion and Design Award

Designer Moisés Hernández produces work influenced by his colours, traditions and textures of his hometown, Mexico City. Hernández was recently awarded the British Council’s Creative Economy YCE Fashion and Design Award for his brand, Diario. His studio redesign everyday Mexican objects as he rediscovers classic handcraft techniques.The objects of Diario respect tradition but they are also simplified from their original versions, leaving and exhalting the characteristics that make them Mexican but in a more contemporary way. We speak to Hernández about his company and how he felt to win the British Council award.

A: You recently won Fashion + Design International Young Creative Entrepreneur Awards. How do you hope it will affect your career?
MH: Winning the YCE was an incredible opportunity for meeting people doing amazing things around the globe. Spending time with them was absolutely motivating and has challenged me to keep improving my business in all its senses: creativity, humanitarian and economic. Our week in London has enabled me to keep up keep updated in a real and tangible way with what is going on in the world, both in the field of design and in the world of creative business. I am really optimistic about the YCE award, and truly believe that being in London was just the beginning of a lasting and collaborative relationship between myself, the UK and the colleagues that I met there.

A: Diario was the work you won with, can you explain where the idea came from?
MH: Diario started during my master thesis at Ecal in Switzerland, the idea since the beginning was to rethink the useful and functional everyday objects in Mexico, no matter if they were handcrafted or industrially produced. Although my master program was in Switzerland my project was about Mexico so I needed to travel there alot whilst still speaking to my tutors back in Switzerland, because of this I needed to prepare a pdf every Skype session telling the story of the work I was doing in Mexico. In these sessions I was explaining everything, the places, the people, my travels etc.., essentially I was doing a diary, and it was during this time I realised that it is really important to explain why those objects are important and where they come from, so my travel diary was then translated into my brand diary.

A: How did you reinterpret Mexico City and use its influence in your work?
MH: Mexico City is such a dynamic and growing city that changes and adapts really fast, I think the rhythm of my work it is determined by the rhythm and feelings of this beautiful and chaotic city. In my Diario project I not only reinterpret Mexico City but so many different Mexican places and objects. Diario is an ambitious project that intends to rethink everyday Mexican objects, functional objects that are really used by Mexicans.

A: Which artists have inspired you?
MH: I love the paintings of Josef Albers and I also love the philosophy of Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa, and the simplicity of the Bouroullec brothers’ designs.

A: What do you have planned for next?
MH: As Moisés Hernández Design Studio we are now working with national companies developing industrial objects and for Diario, there is still so many Mexican objects that I would love to rethink, news of those soon. I would love for Diario to be sold all over the world, so that everyone can have a little bit of Mexico in their life.

To find out more about Moisés Hernández, visit www.moises-hernandez.com.
To buy Dario products, visit www.diarioshop.com.

Credits
1. Dario Shop Collection.