By Marlene Ridgway
Photos by Cristóbal Valdés @zeube
In Northern Chile, miles upon miles of desert stretch out in a seemingly sparse landscape. It doesn’t seem like much is there. Yet, at a young age, Paula Gutiérrez drew inspiration from that vast space, which, through her eyes, felt limitless and brimming with hidden secrets. Among the rocks and sand, a creative mind like Gutiérrez’s discovered rich color palettes, imaginative shapes, and a complexity in the landscape that she now carries into her work.
As a child, Gutiérrez explored and entertained herself by drawing and painting. Armed with her discoveries and inspiration from Northern Chile, she has been translating colors and textures into works of art, first as a way to stay entertained and now as a designer and architect. Gutiérrez, the founder of a namesake design studio explains, “Interior design is a language to express oneself, and our vocabulary is furniture, lighting, art, objects, plants, and more.”
Just Starting Out
There were never any questions when it came to Gutiérrez’s career path, according to the designer. “Aesthetics, since childhood, was always a subject at home,” she says. “When the moment arrived, I had no doubts about going into architecture studies at a university. Interior design was a later development.” From there, in 1989, Gutiérrez was hired to be part of the team for Hyatt Hotels in Santiago. After a few years of working and learning about luxury hotels, she came to a defining conclusion about her next steps. “I discovered that there was a whole world between architecture and the final product, the real living space. And that was where I wanted to be — improving and refining living techniques and styles, through the unlimited means that this specific area gave me,” says Gutiérrez.
In order to pursue this, Gutiérrez founded her studio in collaboration with the Architect University of Chile. The studio covers a wide range of services and has completed many public and private interior design projects with a unique spirit, always balancing avant-garde and functionality. According to Gutiérrez, the studio has a global view of architecture and interior design, integrating cultures and different styles into each project.