Javier Mariscal

Graphic designer, illustrator, furniture and interior designer, painter, sculptor, Javier Mariscal is an artist who loves challenges. An irreverent artist whose existence has been guided by the word "freedom." He draws everything he sees on any corner. His style is impulsive and casual, and he moves with ease through different techniques and media.

His first comic strip was published in the mid-70s in several fanzines of the time. He played a very active role in the Movida and in the visual revolution of Spanish comics with his characters Los Garriris (1974).

He began to be considered a prominent designer with the design of the "Bar cel ona" logo created in 1979, and he designed the Dúplex stool that was exhibited at the iconic Milan exhibition (1981) organized by Ettore Sottsass of the Memphis Group.

In 1989, he opened Estudio Mariscal, the first multidisciplinary studio in Spain, before creating one of his most famous designs: Cobi, the mascot used in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Mariscal won the "National Design Award" in 1999 and in 2006 became an honorary member of the Royal Design Industry.

As a designer, he has completed project after project and has exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Documenta in Kassel, with retrospective exhibitions at the Design Museum in London, La Pedrera in Barcelona and in Korea. In 1989 he founded Estudio Mariscal, a multidisciplinary space, and shortly before that he created one of his best-known designs, COBI, the mascot of the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games.

He has illustrated several covers for The New Yorker, has worked with publishers such as Phaidon, and has developed graphic identities for numerous brands, including the Swedish Socialist Party, The Cornan Shop, Framestore, Bancaja, Onda Cero Radio, Barcelona Zoo, the 32nd America's Cup, Camper, and the comprehensive design of one of the H&M stores in Barcelona. His career also includes the graphic design of "Los Amantes Pasajeros," a film by Pedro Almodóvar.

His product designs are present in furniture brands such as Moroso, Memphis, BD Ediciones de Diseño, Nani Marquina, Bidasoa, Vondom and Magis, among many others. His broad perspective allows him to undertake large-scale artistic intervention projects such as the exterior of the Glòries Shopping Center in Barcelona, a large-scale sculpture in the courtyard of the Río Hortega Hospital, or the famous Domine Hotel in Bilbao, where he designed - in collaboration with Fernando Salas - the integral design of the project.

His work is in several public and private collections, including MOMA, Centre Pompidou, Victoria & Albert Museum, Vitra Design Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Barcelona Design Museum, Lafuente Archive, IVAM, the National Museum of Art of Catalonia, MACBA, and the Centre National des Arts Plastiques, among others.

In 2008, together with his filmmaker friend Fernando Trueba, he presented the animated film "Chico and Rita," which was internationally recognized, won a Goya Award, and was nominated for an Oscar in 2012. In 2023, they co-directed their second animated film, "They Shot the Pianist."