Today we’d like to introduce you to Luis Pons.
Hi Luis, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
In Venezuela, born and raised, I graduated from Architecture school. Afterward, I founded a multidisciplinary design studio & art gallery in Caracas.
In 1999, I was invited to design my first residence in Miami Beach, giving me the opportunity to learn about the architecture in Miami, its history, conditions, and variables. The proposed design for the residence translated those newly found core values, allowing me to create a genuine and authentic tropical Neo-Modernist project.
In 2002, during the first years of Chavez’s dictatorship, we had a kidnap thread that made us move out of Venezuela.
The residence I had designed in Miami Beach gave me the chance to open a studio in Miami Design District. Since then, our team has created iconic pieces of architecture, public art, art installations, collections of furniture, lighting, rugs, wallpaper, ceramics, silverware, and jewelry.
We have participated in several world fairs like the Satellite Pavilion at the Milan Furniture Fair, ICFF, Accent on Design, Maison et Objet, Wanted Design, Art Basel Zurich, and Art Basel Miami. Our installations have been covered by the elite press all over the world and we have had the chance to lecture at multiple design fairs in Italy, Mexico, and Brazil.
I have viewed each design opportunity we have had as a chance to respond with a new and fresh translation of the culture it is immersed in.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Locally, the main challenge we have found is a lack of craftsmanship, artisans, or manufacturers that can produce a good product at a reasonable cost. This extends from Architecture to a simple object prototype.
We also find a strong tendency in the market for design aesthetics and solutions that are divorced from their local essence. Miami tends to chase unnecessary needs, is seduced by excess and pretentiousness, and gets lost in an illusion to the point in which that illusion becomes reality.
Other more essential needs get to be completely rejected, avoided, or not even considered.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Luis Pons Design Lab was created to cover the sectors of hospitality, residential, and commercial properties. Our team strives to design experiential spaces that engage their inhabitants.
The studio’s vision extends beyond architecture, interiors, and landscapes to encompass furniture, lighting, objects, and art installations. Our work is a breathing tapestry of sensory encounters and tactile concepts suspended in the tenuous space between assumption and dreams. Each design opportunity responds to the local DNA with an absolnd fresh translation of the culture it is immersed in.
Human connections are the focal point of our philosophy. We encourage the person to engage with the objects we design to complete the purpose of each object by interacting and making them theirs. We provide the systems, and the person manipulates them to make them theirs.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Likes: Miami is a city of opportunities, a place where people can make a difference and their voices are heard. Miami is a young and vibrant place that offers great opportunities to those who are creative and persevering.
Miami has multiple water ecosystems: ocean, bay, rivers, and the Everglades which offer a great source for leisure and recreation. The weather is great, and we are lucky to be able to live outdoors most of the year. We are also fortunate that our beaches act as the parks we don’t have.
Our city’s tropical nature has the potential to be a lush and exotic place. Cultural diversity is a fundamental part of Miami’s life. People from all over the world have lived in Miami since its foundation. Once a place for vacation and retirement, our city has become a place for those looking for new beginnings.
Dislikes: I wish real estate developers who take as much as they can and leave very little for the masses were more generous and less gritty. They don’t care enough to provide public spaces for people to meet and experience the outdoors.
I wish the city government would be less blind and stronger in enforcing laws that would emphasize the creation of truly public spaces, parks, and recreational areas for the masses.
I wish the private sector of the city would have higher aspirations about the city in which they live. They could raise the standards of the urban experience and provide spaces for the public, instead of joining efforts with developers and city officials missing opportunities to create a true tropical paradise for its people.
I wish we had more public spaces with proper natural shade provided by trees for people to meet, walk, run, picnic, sing, and dance. I wish the maritime authorities would prevent the damage that the speed limits and sound pollution are causing to sea life on the bay.
I wish we would hear less reggaeton and more music. I wish people would be more tolerant and compassionate to those who are serving them.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.luispons.com
- Email: luis@luispons.com
- Instagram: @luisponsdesign
Image Credits
Eric Laignel, Stephan Goettlicher, Hall+Merrick+ McCaugherty, and Kris Singh
