Gabriel Calvillo is an industrial designer from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He is co-founder of Maliarts, a multidisciplinary creative agency that develops a wide variety of projects, from the production of animated short films to the design of urban furniture. His work at Maliarts has allowed him to develop several personal and collaborative projects such as TREM (Taller de Reciclaje Experimental de Malinalco), MONDO and Extinto.
Gabriel is also co-founder of Refugio, where he works around the use of design as a tool for the conservation of native pollinators. Gabriel has collaborated in different external projects such as Aalto Lab Mexico (Aalto University / UNAM) and Residencia Semilla (World Design Capital 2018). He is also part of the Activist Design team and worked as a UI/UX designer at Torque.
In 2014 he received the Dr. Gustavo Baz Prada social service award for his work at the Oaxaca Design Center. Gabriel has been awarded the “Jóvenes Creadores” (FONCA) scholarship on two occasions. In 2017 his project “Sistema de Cultivo de Hongos” was recognized with an honorable mention in Inédito (Design Week Mexico), recognition that he received again in 2021 for his project “Kaab”. In 2019 his project “Refugio” was recognized with an honorable mention at the National Design Biennial. Since 2020 Gabriel has taught at the Industrial Design degree at the Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla, he has also taught at the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
In 2022 he collaborated with SPACE10 for the development of the project titled “Homes of Honey” and in 2023 he was one of the thirteen winners (along with the Refugio team) of the What Design Can Do: Make it Circular Challenge. Gabriel is currently working to complete his Master’s degree in Agroecology and Regenerative Food Systems at the Universidad del Medio Ambiente.