ABOUT

Born in Madrid 1969, Gala holds a degree in art and design from the faculty of Fine Art at the University Complutense in Madrid (1987-1992), a Master degree in Industrial Design from the European Institute of Design in Milan (1994) and a Master in Product Design from the European Institute in Madrid. From 2012-15 Fernandez lived in Mexico City where she founded her studio Pio Pio labs together with Berta Roda. Throughout her career Gala has lectured in various institutions, such as the Instituto Europeo di Design in Madrid, the Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade de Lisboa (FAUTL) in Lisbon, the NAi Nederland Architectuurinstutuut in Rotterdam, in London both at the Royal College of Art and at Goldsmiths. From 2010-2011 she directed the program at the eminent Domaine de Boibuchet in France.

Throughout Gala Fernández career there has been a determined collaborative strand as well as a strong educational perspective. Gala has been teaching in numerous schools, universities and institutions and has worked on collaborative projects in design, curating and project-managing. Within her practice Gala has always been feeding and creating new networks with the people she encountered along her way. Citizen of the world, she has lived in Italy, France, UK, Portugal, Mexico and Spain and has worked with Jaime Hayón at Fabrica and consulted for El Ultimo Grito, among others. In 2020 Fernandez was awarded the Elle Decoration, Spanish Designer of the Year award.

OUT OF THE CAGE is an experimental glass-blowing project realized with the skilled glass-blowers of acclaimed glass manufacturer NOUVEL Studio in México City. The liquid glass is blown into various shaped and sized birdcages and other everyday objects from Mexican markets serving as the molds for this process. Once the housings for colorful birds, the cages have transcended into objects, vessels and containers, where new life has literally been blown into them. Now they hold the colorful glass, reminiscent of the birds themselves.
The objects are a result of the interaction of the hot fluid glass with the molds: the final pieces carrying the marks and history of both their former existences. The project questions the status of confinement versus refuge. A cage can be conceived as imprisonment or a shelter for comfort. The glass works subtly capture this essence of limitation, protection and custody in a very imaginative fashion.

Distinctive glass company Nouvel Studio is famous for its high quality coloured and crystal-like glass. The firm - under the direction of creative visionary Michael Kramer - has done unprecedented work in collaborating with the most prolific established and emerging mexican architects, designers and artists. There are very high artisanal and craft skills required to blow those pieces. The metal and the glass have a different heat and cool-down performance which creates a friction that can easily result in the braking of the glass during the process.

BIO/ CV

2019

M’Afrique Detached / Ten years after / Moroso. Co. / Moroso - Milan Design Week.

Sisley Super Logo Maniacs Installation. Milan Design Week. Sisley store, piazza San Babila, Milan

Antonia & Gala’s Garden. Installation - “Organic Geometry”. Milan Design Week. Frutteto Garibaldi, Milán, Italia.

2018

3 Ladies Glass Installations. With Malò dal Verme y Domitilla Harding - “Organic Geometry”. Moroso Showroom, Milan, Italy

MOSTRO Graphic Design Camp. Exhibition curated by Marco Sammicheli. Brera Design Days. Laboratorio Formentini/Mondadori, Milan

Mexico Design Time. Exhibition curated by Marion Friedmann. London Design Festival

Shake. With Oscar Mariné. Exhibition & workshop. Fabrica, Treviso, Italy

Geometric Organic Botanic. Installation with Giorgia Ricci. Milan Design Week. Sisley store, piazza San Babila, Milan

Geometric Organic Botanic. Installation with Giorgia Ricci. Pitti Uomo. Sisley store, Florence, Italy

Prime Donne Glass Spirit. Lamps Collection. AA Murano. Milan Design Week. Accademia Teatro alla Scala, Milan

PACHA. With UPC from Lima, Peru. Marble and Glass. Milan Design Week, Camp Design Gallery, Milan, Italy

2017

Merry Fabrica. Presentation and exhibition of the first series of glass blown in Murano at AA Murano “Organic Geometry”. Fabrica, Treviso, Italy

The Gold of Peru. With UPC from Lima. Works in glass-Murano. AA Murano. Murano, Italy.

Caro Ettore. Presentation by Marion Friedmann Gallery at the Paul Smith store Mayfair, London.

Gala Fernández & AAMurano. The Venice Glass Week. Archivio della Misericordia, Venice, Italy

Summer Lamps. Lamp collection - Sweet & Sour & Meditarrean with María de Andrés and Lamps Margalitas with Vide Greniers. Bd, Madrid.

Analog Dialogues – Conversations through Making. Exhibition curated by Marion Friedmann and Gala Fernández. Milan Design Week. At IIS Caterina da Siena. Milan.

Uncaged expectations. Gala Fernández glass collections. Milan Design Week. 5 Vie district at ‘Wait and See’. Milan.

2016

Ramón Tormes – ‘Amichitia est Beatitudo’, graphic works and works on silk. Exhibition curated by Berta Roda y Gala Fernández. Bergman Rd. Gallery.

‘Amichitia est Beatitudo’. Group exhibition at ‘Vide Greniers’, Madrid.

Lamps of the ‘Real Fábrica de Cristales 1800-2010, Lamps Collection ‘One Off Worlds’ and ‘Araña Hail!’ Bright Cecilia. Real Fábrica de Cristales de La Granja, La Granja de San Ildefonso. Spain/

The Buccaneer’s Booty – Gala Fernández Recent Works, curated by Maria Cristina Didero . Bergman Rd. Gallery. Marbella.

No title Collection - Gala Fernández felt & Porcelain Collection. Bergman Rd. Gallery. Marbella.

2015

Delicacy. Marion Friedmann Gallery. Brompton Design district, London Design Festival

Not Straight Worlds - Felt Carpets. Feltum. Mexico City, Mexico

Not Straight Worlds – works in ceramic and porcelaine with David Trullo. La Galería Factoría. Madrid.

We Feel/We Felt. Diez Company & Feltum. Felt Lamps. Blend, Mexico City, México.

Villa della Rotonda. Out of the Cage series. Bergman Rd. Gallery. Marbella.

MIART (Milan Art Fair). Marion Friedmann Gallery. Milan

Blossfeldt Collection. Galería Mexicana de Diseño. Mexico City, México.

Wanted Design NYC. Feltum. Felt works including Blossfeldt Collection. New York City, USA

This is not a Duet, curated by Maria Cristina Didero, with Sung Jang, exhibiting the Caro Ettore collection. Chambers Gallery, New York City, USA

Ocoxal Project / CONANP. Works in ocochal resulting of the workshop with the Masahua communities of the region Zitácuaro. Michoacán, México.

Nouvel Studio. Out of the Cage Series. Blend, Mexico City, México.

2014

Abierto Mexicano de Diseño. Marion Friedmann Gallery. Out of the Cage Series II. Librería Porrúa, Mexico City

Abierto Mexicano de Diseño. Sillas 001 and other pieces with Row Studio. Librería Porrúa, Mexico City

Abierto Mexicano de Diseño. Maz y Más. Pieces in concrete. Librería Serafinus y Librería Cilindros. Librería Porrúa, Mexico City

Abierto Mexicano de Diseño. Una La.Ga Bag por ellos. Museum of Popular Art, Mexico City.

Abierto Mexicano de Diseño. Washi Tape Instalation with Row Studio at Space 123, Mexico City

Out of the Cage, presented by Marion Friedmann Gallery. London Design Festival. Brompton Design District. Instituto Cervantes, London

Colección Zafra / Group Exhibition. At gallery space in La Condesa, Mexico City

‘Out of the Cage’. Galería Mexicana de Diseño. Mexico City

Zona Maco, Mexico City Art Fair. With Nouvel Studio. ‘Out of the Cage Mini’. Mexico City

2013

Zafra Design and Art. Fuera del Guacal first series. La Condesa, Mexico City

Abierto Mexicano de Diseño. Fuera del Guacal. With Nouvel Studio. Cages and everyday objects with mouthblown glass, Medicine Museum, Mexico City

Zona Maco, Mexico City Art Fair. With Zafra. Tecali Sound System with Silvino López Tovar. Mexico City.

Zafra Design and Art. Casa Tecali and Caro Ettore first series. La Condesa, Mexico City