Today we’d like to introduce you to Fabio Alvino Roca.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was born from a very supportive family, a Venezuelan navy captain as a father and an entrepreneur blooded mother. Both polar opposites in ideology but should give a good idea of who are the people who have raised my sister and me. The landscape where I was raised was that of my parents, if I was not living in a desert Caribbean island navy base, I was at the family jewelry store in the city of Caracas which has been in business for quite a few decades.
We moved to Miami in the mid 90’s in search of a better education. I attended Design and Architecture Senior High (DASH), which was the school that formalized creativity, it was a great school because they didn’t grab me by the hand and walked me along the “better path” but instead they taught me how to draft a map of the roads I can take. For the university I left to New York where I attended The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, where I graduated from the school of architecture, a very special place which formalized my methods of thought and reasoning, and a good grasp on materials.
As soon as I graduated I found a job for an interior designer in NY and after not much time my hands begun to itch. I craved an urge to make and build with my hands and realized I had to do something about it. Parallel to my interior design job, some friends and I started a small fabrication shop in a cellar in Bushwick, Brooklyn making models for architects and it didn’t take much time before I started making furniture.
I was in love with New York but after working and living there for almost a decade Arta, my girlfriend at the time, made me realize that there was an interest for I do in the city where my education started, Miami. Within a few days of this realization, my furniture fabrication shop in a 500 square foot Bushwick cellar with six-foot ceilings was upgraded to a 1,300 square foot studio space with 18-foot ceilings in South Miami neighboring Coral Gables. I’ve been in the same studio space since I moved back.
Arta and I lived in the neighborhood of Buena Vista, near the Design District for almost two years. She ended up moving back to New York, where she was born and raised, and instead of me staying in the same apartment or moving to another, I ended up moving into my sailboat anchored off Coconut Grove. This was not as much of a change in my life as people would assume, but an adjustment to who I am and my lifestyle. And this is the place I’ve been living in for a little bit over a year.
Please tell us about your art.
I am a woodworker, my art is woodworking and what I make is woodwork; in other words, I design and build custom furniture, doors, and functional products. Just designing or just building has never been enough for me, my mind and hands must be equally involved when developing work. If you’re a designer, you can understand that as you are drafting, your idea might change for the better; and if you are a fabricator you might realize better ways to build something, and when you marry these two phases of production you end up evolving a very personalized product.
We often hear from artists that being an artist can be lonely. Any advice for those looking to connect with other artists?
As an artist I find the best connections are not with other artist but anyone else in any other occupation. And the easiest way to meet anyone else but artists is just by not being with artists.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Because all I make is custom and by commission, there is only one place to really grasp a good idea for my work, and that is in the studio.
Contact Info:
- Address: Bird Road Art District
- Website: www.fabio-designs.com
- Email: fabio@fabio-designs.com
- Instagram: @Fabio_Designs
Image Credit:
Portrait: Arta Perezic
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