Lorena Gaxiola, (43 years) is an interior designer who has a total willingness to invest in her end goal — and incredible endurance and ability to absorb risk. This award-winning interior designer is a female immigrant from Mexico who has become a huge success in the face of adversity, managing over $1billion worth of real estate worldwide. Born and raised in Mexico, Gaxiola uses memories from childhood and heritage as expressions throughout her work. Growing up in a country where rules are made to be broken made Lorena a forward thinker. “I don’t expect to change the world of design; I simply want to change peoples’ perception of conventional objects,” she says. Her work has been celebrated locally and internationally.
Having always been good at math and intrigued by shapes and construction, Lorena believed she would follow in her architect’s father’s footsteps. “My inspiration for architecture and design definitely came from my father. I remember watching him draw and sketch structures by hand. I would come to his office to watch his team make models the old fashion way and I always used to steal their pens to create my own art.”
Lorena’s mother encouraged her to take classical art lessons as a form of punishment for the times she was naughty. Not long after, her artistic talent was recognised and, at 13 years of Gaxiola she was sent to art class painting – the youngest student who was surrounded by adults listening to classical music.
Lorena has always had a penchant for design. “I was born in a creative family. My father is an architect and my mother was an artist at heart, a fashionista, painter, singer, florist, decorator and a cook. She was amazing at anything she set her mind to.”
In the 1990s, Gaxiola moved to California where she graduated from Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) at the Design Institute of San Diego, launched Kuatro Design.
Lorena has recently won The Gold Nugget for The Best International Residential Award in Francisco/ the PCBC ‘Academy Awards’ for The Lennox Paramatta. This award recognizes those who improve communities through exceptional concepts in design, planning and development and is one of the most prestigious design honours to receive.
Ironically, Lorena’s success has been largely attributed to her father’s sexist advice who advised when growing up not to enter into the world of architecture as it was male-dominated. Lorena says, “On my graduation day, my senior design teacher who was an architect herself approached to my father and said to him ‘your daughter should’ve been an architect’. My father responded, “I know, and that is why she will make a great interior designer’.”
“Through my professional experience I have become more than just an interior designer. Now my creative role has expanded into interior architecture and art direction helping support unique sales and marketing strategies for many of my property development clients.”
Lorena has helped to dramatically shape Australian design. She continues to split her time between her San Diegan clients and Sydney office HQ. Humorously, boarding a 15-hour flight from Australia for a few days is “as easy as taking the bus.”
In the 1990s, Gaxiola moved to California where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) at the Design Institute of San Diego, launched Kuatro Design, her successful interior design firm, and ten years on met her husband who introduced her to life in Australia.
Her enthusiasm for design expanded. After twenty years of noticing an emotional disconnect between her clients and homewares in the interior design industry, she felt the need to explore the world of home furnishings.
The Lorena Gaxiola collection embraces holistic designs for homewares and décor (rugs, cutlery, bedding, dinnerware, pillows, rugs and drinkware) which are symbolic of spiritual elements and positive messages for the mind, body and soul. Each piece works to honour’s Lorena’s Mexican heritage and fine-arts background. It is truly beautiful.
“Holistically, I like to bring balance to interior spaces applying the same rule of connecting the mind, body and spirit through our senses. One needs to be able to function in each space yet be stimulated and at the same time feel serenity. Emotionally, I care to be surrounded by objects that matter to me because they tell my story.”
Lorena has earned the trust from Australian property developers who were not necessarily planning to hand over 1.5 billion dollars’ worth of property value to a Mexican designer from San Diego. Gaxiola prepares to design in San Diego again and continues to help property developers create strategic solutions for design. “I would like to show the world what the SoCal style is truly about and what the locals can do to this town bigger and better than ever…There are a few opportunities and projects on the pipeline but we’d like to kept them hush hush for now. Stay tuned.”
