Biography
“Doing things instinctively, without overthinking their logic, and only later discovering their meaning and purpose as people engage with them in the real world. This is the magic of Art and Design.”
Rafael Angulo is a Spanish artist, designer, and inventor-engineer, born and raised in Gran Canaria since 1974. He operates internationally as an independent multidisciplinary designer, working from his native island—a strategic crossroads between Europe, Africa, and America—where he continues to shape his global outlook and creative language.
From a very early age, drawing and design became his primary means of expression. His formative years were marked by an intuitive and constant exploration of visual form. It was then, after he had already produced his first drawings, that at the age of eleven he started to design automobiles and products on his own—well before formally encountering the discipline of industrial design.
In 1992, he began his formal education at Elisava School of Design in Barcelona, where he developed a foundation in industrial design. Driven to expand his perspective, he moved to the United Kingdom to study at Coventry University, one of the leading institutions in transport design. During this period, he further refined his approach in Germany at the Fachhochschule Pforzheim, and at the age of 21, he joined the design department at Mercedes-Benz—an early milestone that positioned him within a highly competitive international context.
Following his studies, he returned to his home island of Gran Canaria, where he also coursed fashion and graphic design and established his own studio in 2001. Since then, he has built a diverse and cross-disciplinary practice spanning graphic design, product and automotive design, fashion, furniture, and interior design, while maintaining a strong and ongoing connection to the fine arts.
Throughout his career, he has contributed to a wide range of projects and collaborated with educational institutions at both regional and national levels, consolidating a distinctive and globally oriented creative profile.
My idea
“To conceive things that seem impossible without ceasing to be beautiful, romantic and elegant. To provoke a mental explosion, disbelief at what is seen, to break away from rigid conventions and to invent; always that: to reinvent.”
Since the beginning of my journey in the world of art and design, I cannot remember a moment when I stopped seeking innovation, thinking about the future and breaking the rules of everything that feels ordinary and commonplace. I am constantly searching for the most impossible and spectacular forms, those colours that send shivers down our spines, the materials that allow their noblest properties and qualities to be felt for themselves, as well as the most innovative and extraordinary designs, capable of conveying exquisite beauty and outstanding functionality, so that they may be admired as exclusive pieces of great artistic value.
When creating my work, I draw inspiration from the latest advances in engineering, from new inventions and technologies, from the art of the Renaissance, Modernism and the Avant-Gardes of the twentieth century, as well as from the new influences of the twenty-first century. I am also inspired by everything that surrounds me and occurs beyond my senses and, naturally, by the beauty of the places in which I have lived, especially those of my childhood: the Canary Islands, and also by the diverse and contradictory cultures I have encountered throughout my wanderings around the world.
From a very young age, my path led me towards the world of transport and product design, with drawing always being my most powerful weapon, even more so than words. Nowadays, my work ranges from striking graphic design and impressive marker renderings to powerful infographics and the most extroverted and exciting transport and product models.
In this way, engineering is my left hand, while in my right I hold the Bic pen with which I sketch every recent idea that shines through my mind, seeking not only beauty but also functional innovation in all my creations, making them unique, unrepeatable and timeless.
This is how work is carried out in my office, where creative madness and activity never cease: if not one thing, then another. My studio is a multidisciplinary workshop in which I devote myself equally to drawing and sculpture, as well as to the construction of all kinds of products and artefacts distinguished by their exquisite aesthetics and outstanding functionality. Within it, everything is organised into a single versatile department where art and engineering intertwine and become one. From an automobile to a chair or an advertising poster, everything finds its place there, without it ever being entirely clear where artistry ends and advanced construction technique begins.
Press
Flight International
September 1995 issue
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Article showing the entries to the Ogle Design competition for the interior cabin design of transoceanic commercial aircraft, in which Rafael Angulo obtained the 4th prize for his passenger seat design.
Camión
December 1992 issue
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Article related to the awards ceremony of the Truck Design competition organized by the specialized Spanish magazine "Camión" and "Voith Ibérica", in which Rafael Angulo obtained the 2nd prize for the design of a futuristic lorry.
Camión
October 1992 issue
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Article where is shown the Rafael Angulo´s entry for the Truck Design competition hold by the specialized Spanish magazine "Camión" and "Voith Ibérica".
Awards
4th Ogle Design Prize - 1994
