S5E10 Color Devotion with Maye Ruiz

In this final podcast for 2024, TCA spoke to interior designer Maye Ruiz, the Mexican queen of color about the perfect color combination, listening to the genius loci of a house, breaking color myths, imposter syndrome, and how color is her religion in life. 

Maye Ruiz, the creative mind and founder of MAYE, an interior design studio established in 2021, has rapidly established herself as a trailblazer in the design industry. A proud graduate of Universidad de la Salle Bajío in 2008, Maye combines her solid academic foundation with a visionary approach to interior design. In 2023, she was awarded by Architectural Digest and named one of the 100 most influential creatives in Latin America. Her accolade for Best Restaurant Design further solidified her reputation as a visionary in interior design. Her projects have been featured in prestigious design publications, including Dezeen, Architectural Digest (AD), and Elle Decor, highlighting her bold and distinctive approach to color and style. Maye’s work is celebrated for its trend-setting aesthetics and unlimited creativity, continuously shaping the future of the design industry. Beyond these recognitions, Maye has collaborated with renowned creative partners and brands, further elevating her position as a leader in her field.

Her commitment to pushing design boundaries and delivering excellence continues to set her apart as an innovator and influencer in interior design. In addition to leading MAYE, Maye Ruiz has passionately shared her expertise in design through academia. From 2015 to 2022, she taught courses, delivered lectures, and conducted workshops at prestigious Mexican institutions, including the Universidad Iberoamericana, Tecnológico de Monterrey, and Centro de Diseño, Cine y TV. She also collaborated on the diploma program for the Latin American adaptation of content by the renowned U.S. publisher Condé Nast, further enriching the region's design education landscape.

Transcript

Judith van Vliet: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this very last episode of 2024 with The Color Authority podcast. We're going to stay in Mexico because I'm going to be interviewing in just a few seconds.

Maya Ruiz, the color queen, or at least let's say the Mexican color queen of interior design. Maye Ruiz, the creative mind and founder of MAYE, an interior design studio established in 2021, has rapidly established herself as a trailblazer in the design industry. A proud graduate of Universidad de la Salle Bajío in 2008, Maye combines her solid academic foundation with a visionary approach to interior design. In 2023, she was awarded by Architectural Digestsand named one of the hundred most influential creatives in Latin America. And guess what? Again this year in 2024, she was among that list as well. In addition to leading MAYE, Maye Ruiz has passionately shared her expertise in design through academia. From 2015 to 2022, she taught courses, delivered lectures, and conducted workshops at prestigious Mexican institutions, including the Universidad Iberoamericana, Tecnológico de Monterrey, and Centro de Diseño, Cine y TV. She also collaborated on the diploma program for the Latin American adaptation of content by the renowned U.S. publisher Condé Nast, further enriching the region's design education landscape.

Good morning, Maye Welcome to the Color Authority. How are you this morning?

Maye Ruiz: Hi, Judith. Thank you for having me. I am, I'm fine. Today is getting chilly here in Mexico, San Miguel de Allende.

Good. Really happy to to talk with you today for the Color Authority.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, we were just before we started, we were talking about how color is like a form of escapism and how the world is not an amazing place to be right now.

There's a lot of uncertainty and that color always is a good topic because it always makes everybody happy.

Maye Ruiz: Totally.

Judith van Vliet: Well, you look essentially colorful and that's one of the reasons why obviously I invited you. In one of my pre posts, I called you the Queen, the Mexican Queen of Color, because I think if somebody gets the color game correctly, it is definitely you.

I always have one first question question though, and that's been the same for I think the very beginning of the podcast. So it's been amazing to see everybody's replies you already confined in me.

It was the most difficult question because indeed it is a question that makes you think a lot. But Maya, what is color to you? To you personally? Of course.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, well, yeah, this question was the harder of all the other ones because, you know, when color is that much to you, it's like Hard to explain. I mean, color, it's a lot of things, but I have to put just one word or one idea about color.

It's really hard. And after thinking, to me, color is a powerful messenger. I think, I think color have this amazing capacity of communicate something.

But it's, it's more complex than we thought.

Because, for example, in nature color works like to say other animals that this frog is super poison or color help us to know that orange fruits have vitamin C. I mean, something things are more general, but at the same time, color, I, I mean, regarding and talking about emotions say different things depending your culture, your age, your experiences, how you see life through.

I mean, it's, it's really personal. But always even if you think you aren't a colorful person, and even if you say I hate colors, I love neutrals, or I am a Japandi person, or wherever color impacts you in many, many different ways.

So at the end, I think the power of the color is to communicate something. And even if you don't believe in this, because for me, color is a devotion. But even if you're not a believer, he will, it will communicate something to you.

Judith van Vliet: I love how you said that color is a devotion, like color is a religion. It's almost like I always say color is always a language. So when I say people, I speak six languages.

I always say my seventh language or my first language is, is color. But again, color, in the end, it's. It's a, It's a religion. Like you're part of a tribe, of a community that really strongly believes in.

In color because it impacts people's lives.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, yeah, totally. So saying that I should say that, to me, color, it's like a prayer because, you know, this communication between you and God, it's a prayer. So I think color, it's the prayer that communicates a lot of things.

Judith van Vliet: Like manifesting. Yeah, manifesting in color. Actually, I just bought a new book and I think it's called the Rainbow Witch.

Maye Ruiz: Oh, wow.

Judith van Vliet: How color and psychology, but also how you can use colors and certain crystals that when you're manifesting something that is part of that color psychology, like let's say it's red. Obviously you're manifesting abundance and love, but also what trees to use, what colors to use, what herbs, what crystals, of course, what time of the day.

So it also indicates to you which day is a red day, for example, or a red month.

Maye Ruiz: Wow.

Judith van Vliet: So it's very interesting. So it's coming back to this indeed community. Color is a religion. It's interesting that they even wrote books about it. Imagine how much there is still to learn about color.

Maye Ruiz: Exactly. And also, I think.

I mean, this mysterious power that is color, I think is really hard to get. And people often want to make formulas for everything, not just for color, but, okay, this color.

And this color means hungry and. Or. Or is.

You're starving. I mean, for example, here in Mexico, people have the idea that orange is for fast food and taquerias.

I mean, my life is. My house is orange, and I'm not starving the whole time, you know, So I think it's really hard to totally get the color. I think it's a life journey to totally understand all these messages from color.

Judith van Vliet: I think there's many. And also, you can say that one color does everything for everyone. Hence also sometimes the difficult expressions that we have with the color of the year, which obviously was just released by Pantone as well.

And every big paint company has a color of the year, of course, but it's difficult to have one color for everybody and one color for all markets. I mean, one color looks good on fashion and the other.

And. But then it's not good for automotive. It's not good for interiors. So it's tricky to apply one color just to everything.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah. Yeah. But also, I think the hard part for. For the. Most of the people is have too much choices.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah.

Maye Ruiz: I mean, it's like in recent years, for example, the gray or right now, these mocha mouse and these beiges and all these neutral colors and palettes that came from these Japandi trend and everything.

I think for people, it's easier.

Like, okay, all this rainbow, all these swatches.

They are so overwhelmed to me. So please just give me one. A white, a black mocha mouse, a brown. Too much. All these color options. So I think for. I think for a lot of people, it's.

It's easier, you know?

Judith van Vliet: No, it probably is. And other people thinking about resale of the house and everything, so they'll think about that. But I think this is exactly. I mean, neutrals can be colored as well, but, yeah, you always need a little bit of color, and your projects are super colorful.

I think that is definitely one thing that we can. I think I hardly ever saw in neutral unless you were obviously using natural materials like woods, for example, or a certain.

Certain plants that obviously they have more natural feel and the color to it. What inspires you most in color and where do you get your inspirations? Because to keep being very colorful and always do all those projects that you do you need new inspiration constantly.

Maye Ruiz: I should say color sometimes or the most of the times. It's one of my starting points to the project.

But I don't choose color randomly. I mean, I always try to look for a story and it's really interesting because the most of the times the property or the clients give you the story.

I try to got my inspiration from movies or from a story. Like sometimes they are really random facts from the client and you're like, oh my gosh, I really love that story story.

So I will investigate more about this. When. When I have these stories, I always thought like, okay, what color could be the color for this story? I mean, it's like, for example, right now is aurora, and it's related with the sun and the stars.

So the two first colors we have for the project is blue and yellow, like the sun in the sky.

I mean, you develop the project and you start to choose a certain. A certain swatch of color. Because when you say, I mean, you work with color. And when I say yellow, it's like, okay, why?

What. What kind of yellow?

Judith van Vliet: You know, only of a different yellow than you are. Because of where I am, where I grew up, my history, everything.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, exactly. So these change a lot. Depend always also the context, which is really, really, really important and is one of my four legs for design. I think one is the context.

Other, other leg is the client. These personal stories or also the locus journey of a place which is a protector spirit of a place that give you some clues about the colors and the inspiration.

And other. The fourth leg, I should say the trends. I mean, I'm not. I don't hate trends, but.

But also, I don't think.

I don't think trends are every. Everything.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, it's part of the little bit. Yeah, you use a little bit of inspiration from that, but they're not your main driving force.

Maye Ruiz: No, exactly. But I think it's also you. You have to know what is happening outside and what. And I mean, it's like, okay, years after, after that, I want that people see my project and say, yeah, sure, Mage designed that in 2024, you know, because.

Makes sense with that universe.

Judith van Vliet: I think context is everything. I always talk to all my clients about this. Like, very often it happens that the client went on holidays and they fell in love with a certain color palette, which is, let's say it's Morocco.

And then they come back to, I don't know, Belgium.

The sun is different, the light is different, the cultural context is different. And then the colors don't look the same. I'm like, yeah, because you're in a different context. You're in a different world.

Some things you can translate, but you still have to always adapt because already just the light changes everything. Everything. Like your light in Mexico is different than what I have here in Madrid.

But also yesterday I came back from the Netherlands.

Okay. In the winter, there's no light.

So it makes an influence on the colors you have to pick for your clients and everything, right?

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, totally. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: How would you describe your work? If you can only use three keywords?

Maye Ruiz: I should say vibrant, emotional, and dramatic. I might like soap opera.

Judith van Vliet: You're like telenovela style. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

Maye Ruiz: I'm Mexican, so I'm really dramatic. And yeah, the pastels and the neutrals. Neutrals are really hard to me.

Judith van Vliet: I think in life they don't do anything for you. Like, it's not giving you the emotion that you are looking for in every day.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, yeah. And I mean, I. I used to paint when I was teenager, and I love art. Actually, at the beginning, my first dream was being an artist, a painter.

And I. I remember I used to paint watercolor. And to me, it was really hard to paint with all this water, you know, this, like. Oh, yeah. To me it was like, no, I need more intensity.

I think I am intense.

So I think also my work, it's a little intense, but that's it.

Judith van Vliet: I mean, that's your signature. You know, that's who you are. And people that will hire you, they know what they're going to get. They're going to get, you know, vibrancy, emotion, a little bit of drama.

I love it. Also, what I love about your work is that. And then probably this is also due to where you are, where the houses are that you are and the restaurants and the hotels that you develop because of the.

Again, it's context. It's everything. But the color combinations that you make are very audacious.

At least what I think that the rest of the world would consider to be audacious. What is a good color combination for you? Like, how do you put them together?

Do you have a certain methodology or do you have, like.

Like rules of what works for you and what doesn't work?

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, well, I mean, I. I was talking about the drama and the drama films and soap operas and all this. So I think for me, these colors in a space are.

I. I think about them about, like, characters in a movie. I mean, not all of them could be the. The protagonist.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah.

Maye Ruiz: But each one is necessary and important. So I Almost always start with a key color and I choose other compliments. And I should say that, for example, I remember maybe 2010 or 2015.

I remember these colorful but monochrome faces were really on trend. And I love it.

But for example, for me, these kind of spaces are really hard because I love contrast. So. Yeah, I mean, maybe it's like the protagonist and the bathroom. You know, this fight between the good.

Judith van Vliet: And really bad cop.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah. This really contrast colors.

But always, I think it's real to me, it's really important I don't forget that color is light and also have this color with more light and other dark colors. And be like, make sure you're not choosing colors with the same frequency and with the same saturation because they start to fight.

So I think for me it's important to choose different colors with different saturations to really have a contrast and also a story. But you can't. I think the rule for me is you can't the same proportion of color.

You need a principle. You need the second, you need the extras. You know, it's like a movie. Totally.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah. I think that that actually figures because especially when you. I mean, we were all taught the color theory, no secondary colors and how you do complementary colors which are opposites on the color wheel.

But then the whole saturation is obviously something that makes things really interesting. So in your work, you choose one highly saturated color and the other ones are. They're still colorful, but they're slightly.

With a lower saturation. And also they're not. They having smaller roles in your movie. Right.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah. And actually to me, in my personal process, it's funny because it's the opposite than others.

Neutrals come at the very end when. When I feel like, okay, this is too much already. So I need. I need to balance and support the main characters with neutrals.

So the neutral. I mean, I use neutrals, but almost always at the end.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah. Okay. So it's an accessories in the end because, you know, you've already painted most of the things, you've selected the bigger furnit.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: So it's really about small accessories that create some quietness.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah. It's like, okay, I already have what I wanted, so now I need balance. And Yeah, I like a little more calm. Yeah.

Judith van Vliet: How do you infuse what to me is very clear? It's your Mexican origin. You know, you were born and raised in Mexico. But what is happening globally? Because Mexico is an enormous market.

But it's not standing on its own, of course. But you're let's say that your design and your colors are very much. What is your heritage as a Mexican? How do you mix that with what is perhaps more of a global influence?

Or are you influenced by something that is coming from other parts of the world?

Maye Ruiz: Well, regarding. About Mexico, I should say to start is Mexico, it's not beige at all. But for a long time, I think international influences dictate trends and pushing our languages into the background.

But we did that. I'm not saying that other cultures came to do that, but I think for four years people used to think like, okay, no or colorful roots and all these things.

Maybe it's not a good taste and color. Maybe it's not a good taste and things like that. So for years people used to think like, okay, maybe good taste is beige.

You know, the grass always look greener in the other backyard. You know.

Judith van Vliet: It does.

Maye Ruiz: So yeah, it does. And also, I don't know if you read this book that really shocked me. Chromophobia by David Bachelor. I love that book. And actually this book talk a lot about this, about how color, like color in Asia or I mean in America for the, the natives and the older cultures, non white cultures for, for years for people it was like, you know, the cheap color or the, the color for savage people or really crazy things like that.

Judith van Vliet: Elegant. It wasn't considered. I mean, in the middle, in the Middle Ages in Europe, but also in the United States. In Europe, color was taboo, you know, as well, because only true pure sunlight was a gift from God.

So color was like, it was not coming from God. At least that's what they believed at the time. But at the time taboo. I mean, Oscar Wilde was arrested because he was walking on the street with the yellow book.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, yeah. And even when Mexico, it's not beige. A lot of Mexican creatives, especially, you know, architects, especially after, I mean, I don't know, I don't want to be polemic, but maybe after people like Le Corbusier that wrote awful about color and you know, the schools still teaching that, like, no, you can't use color.

You should use the natural materials and honest materials without paint, without color, you know.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, it's.

Maye Ruiz: To me they are like, you know, the graveyard. I mean, I'm still alive. Why you put me inside a white marble thing, so.

Judith van Vliet: But they don't give emotions, you know.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, yeah, it's. It's for death.

For other part, I should say that we, we live in a, in a global work. And I mean right now in. On I mean, I follow you on Instagram and we live really far away in different continents.

So I should say, of course my influences are not just Mexicans. I mean, I'm influenced, but I mean for all around the world. I think this could be also an opportunity.

After saying that my conscious goal is combined global inspiration with my roots, develop a new rich language.

Because also I love the mix and match. I love combine things from all around the world. I mean, I mean, maybe we will talk about Casa Coa further. But for example, Casa Coa have a lot of inspiration from Morocco, but also from Mexico for.

But also from international trends, you know, and I love. Because I think it's like humans, we are a mix of a lot of things and every single person and place and food leaves something in our personality in who we are.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah. Especially traveling does that. Talking about Casa Coa, which is a feast for color lovers, which obviously, I mean, I talked a little bit about it in my, my article again in Manera and then obviously it was also published in the magazine.

It was, it's. It's a festive party that you have going on there. Colorways. Tell us a little bit about that project. But also indeed, where did the inspiration come from?

You just said Morocco. There's different areas that then inspire you, correct?

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, yeah. Actually, well, about Casa Coa, actually it's here in San Miguel de Allende. But the clients, they live in Melbourne, Australia and they buy the house. And the house, it's not a super old house.

It's like maybe it's from the, from the 80s or 90s, I don't know. But the. The constructor try to do something like in this context of San Miguel de Allende and all these ideas about magic town and in Spanish they say pueblo magico with these ideas in the first courtyard, they have these arcs, these like kind of Moroccan arcs.

But actually the house have not so much personality, but one really interesting thing. That was snakes. Snakes in the ironworks, in the windows, in the doors.

Like a lot of snakes. And actually the original name of the house, it was Casa Eden. Like Eve and Adam and all this story from the Bible. And actually my clients were like, okay, we don't want.

I buy a Bible. Sorry. For our house. I was like, okay, we can't approach to the snakes from other place.

But I think the snakes are the most important part of the house. Recently I. I'm more related with a thing called the locus. Jenny. I don't know if you heard about it.

It's. It's like this Information, this spirit of that live in the house before everything.

And this spirit tells you more about what he wants for the house. You know, I think in my work, that always happened to me, and also with people like, like, okay, this house have to be green or for this person is yellow or is blue or, I don't know, it's like a feeling.

And for Casa Coa, the very first color, it was the green. And actually the only thing we respect it was the kitchen, the cabinets from the kitchen that actually were green.

And our clients were really certain about, okay, we want a greenhouse. And we start to develop the project with the green first.

But when we started to prove other colors and other characters from the movie, we realized that actually we need more warm colors. Other. Other interesting thing with them. It was their favorite movie.

Were great expectations from Quaron that the. Actually this movie is really, like, sexy and green and romantic and nostalgic.

So we also put that in the mix.

Judith van Vliet: Do you ask your client what their favorite movie is?

Maye Ruiz: Yeah. Yeah, I think. Yeah, I like to have more interesting conversations to know a little more about something, or, for example, I don't know what is your favorite painting or song or.

Because these clues could be helpful to develop a story, because if you don't have this information, it's like, oh, my gosh, where can I go for a good story? You know?

So with all this information, we developed that color palette that actually is consistent. Actually, to me, it's hard to put, like, random colors. I mean, I love how other interior.

Interior designers put a lot of different colors and a lot of random things that actually they are not random, but not that a palette, like, so strict.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, it's not consistent.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, but I can't. I think, to me, I love consistent palettes and repeat the color and reflect in other parts. So, yeah, the palette is really consistent.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, it's a. It's indeed a beautiful palette. Everybody who's listening, they should definitely check it out on your Instagram account. You just before you. You talked me to me about that.

One of your objectives is also to break stigmas that people have about color. Just like what you said, like, orange doesn't necessarily. You hungry? There's a lot about this color and living like the chromophobia.

A lot of people that think that color is going to make them too excited, that's going to make them too active, or it's going to make them there. There's a lot of feelings that people have about this.

Can you talk a little bit how you can Break these with your clients. Because I think that's something that everybody wants to understand, because a lot of people work with clients, but then they like, oh, no, that's too much color.

Oh, no, I can't do that. Oh, no, I can't do red. I can't do yellow, because yada, yada, yada. How do you break that with your client? How do you, you know, go into conversation and talk to him about those stigmas and myths?

Maye Ruiz: I think the hardest part, it was at the beginning when nobody knows me and I had not a book or proof to say that, you know, So I think for me to break that stigmas, even with myself, because I think that the very first person, if you want to work with color, the very first person who you have to break these myths is with you in your own life.

Because we also born with and grew and not born, but we grew up with these myths. And I mean, the most of the people told me, like, oh, I don't know if all these color will board me.

And it's like, no, I don't think so. I think the white will bore you more. But for me, for example, my last apartment in Mexico City used to be red.

First blue, but Greece blue, and then red, but red. Even the ceiling, everything. And now orange. I should say, at the beginning, it was terrifying to me. Like, when I paint the ceiling red and everything red, it was like, oh, my.

Oh, my gosh. What I did.

And I lived there during the lockdown, and it was amazing. I. I didn't feel aggressive. I didn't feel.

But I was there, I mean, in a lockdown, living in a red apartment, small apartment in Mexico City, and that.

Judith van Vliet: Could be a risk.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, but it was really good. I really love that apartment.

But I should say that first of all, the very first person you have the break the myth is with yourself. I think to me, the. The most important thing I did about that is experiment color in my own place, in my own life.

Because if you want to talk about color and pitch about color and design with color, but you live in a white house, you're not. I mean, I'm talking about interior design, but if you're not experimenting this color in that way, I mean, if you design clothes or furniture or whatever, and you want to experiment the color, you have to start with yourself to break that myth.

And then just after, then you can talk with other people and say, okay, I prove it with myself and really worth it.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, I had to do that with yellow because one of my first podcasts was with the color therapist, which was really interesting.

Maye Ruiz: Wow.

Judith van Vliet: And then to overcome some traumas, I had to work with Fuxia for some trauma of the heart. But then she says, but yellow is your color and that's the color that makes you shine.

Right. Then I did another podcast after that with Color Dynamics, and he also said, even through your name and everything, you were born as a yellow person. So yellow is shine your light.

But I never liked yellow. I got very sick as a child of a yellow curry, which. And then obviously you're like. Like, even when I saw color, I felt like, horrible for.

I really had to break that stigma and I had to go find the yellow because I'm obviously fair skinned and not all yellows look good. I had to also find for my yellow.

Interesting. Now it's like I have. I. It's my favorite sweater, which I wear all the time. And everybody's like, oh, there she comes again with a yellow sweater. Because now I finally own it.

Right. This is indeed something that you have to go through. You have to do with yourself first. Exactly. Like you said.

Maye Ruiz: Exactly. I think it's a personal experimentation. And I think now more and more I am moving to that in my work. Instead, just say, like, okay, you have to paint your house.

This. You know.

No, I think I want to more and more being like part of the journey of the color journey of other people. Like, look for this special swatch like 13 color that means something to you.

Judith van Vliet: You know, and help them, help them support them. And if it's not the right color, you change it into the next. You know, you have to keep trying. Always I. There's very little projects that the color is perfect the first time.

Like you always. It's always like trying to balance.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah. But the color change. And this is the thing I was saying, like, it's really personal. Really, really, really personal. You can't generalize because also depends on how do you match and how do you balance.

It's like, okay, this place is orange, but I have a lot of. A lot of blues and greens and blah, blah that help you don't feel you're not in a orange box.

You have other elements and you use.

Judith van Vliet: A lot of elements from other great artisans and obviously also local materials, which I think is very much part of the sustainability. Take that. It seems to be ever more important.

How important is it for you to work with people that are local to either San Miguel Allende or Mexico? I can notice in your work it is important. But tell us more about these collaborations and why you select the pieces that you select.

Maye Ruiz: I will start to talk from San Miguel de Allende, because really move here. Help me and teach me a lot about this. Because I used to live in Mexico City, which is one of the most of the biggest cities in the world.

So in Mexico City you have everything.

I mean, you can go to Pinterest and say, like, okay, I want this, I want this. And I will find a factory somewhere in the city that will help me with that.

But in San Miguel de Allende, it's really, really small town. It's really different. And also, I think I learned a lot about this from my partner, Daniel Valero. He have a project called Mestiz.

He work a lot with artisans. I learned from him a lot. He's. He's one of my biggest teachers right now.

And something that I learned is instead of you came from the city and say, and from Pinterest or whatever and say, I want this. It's like, okay, I will investigate what they do and I will adapt to them.

Yeah, yeah. So in he actually around here, we have amazing artisans. For example, here in San Miguel de Allende, people work with wood. Really amazing. And close to here, we have Dolores Hidalgo that work with ceramics.

Like, amazing, like crazy.


And well, I mean, we are in Guanajuato. I'm from Leon, actually, where they work with leather, one of the best in the world.

And we really close have. We have Michoacán and they have a crazy, crazy thing there. Yeah. And amazing food. Yeah. I mean, Mexico is so, so rich. I think I'm learning about that, like, instead to like impose to the artisans what I want.

It's like, okay, what, what I have to my project, you know, because also I think, and I saw these things here in San Miguel, like, other people came from the city and from other parts, like, okay, I want this, I want this technique that.

And sometimes the artisan try to do it, but yeah, they fail.

Judith van Vliet: But nobody's happy.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, nobody's happy. So instead of that, it's like, okay, how we can work together with your technique. The artisans that made these lamps used to used to work just with baskets.

It's amazing, you know, and now they are working with lamps. They did all the windows for Hermes Mexico, but they still use the same technique.

Judith van Vliet: That's what is so amazing about Mexico.

It's like what they used to do hundreds and thousands of years ago. That's still the way they're doing it. And it's perfect. Why change it?

Maye Ruiz: Exactly. We don't have to change it and we don't have to copy other ways from other parts of the world.

But we can make a mix. Yeah, it's. It's like a mix. And collaborate. Really collaborate.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah. Now that's true. I think that's very good. Everybody needs to keep focused on what they're good at and what they know. You definitely know how to design interiors. Been a rising star in your industry, not just in Mexico.

Once again, you were selected for Architectural Digest 100 Most Creatives. It's a lot of pressure, right? I mean, but how do you keep going and how do you keep your color game at the high level?

Like it's.

And balance. Because you also just want to live life right. You can't only be working and working and doing these amazing projects. There's a time to.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, well, well, to be honest, we'll be overwhelmed. Like, oh my gosh. You know, for example, right now with Casa Coa that a lot of magazines publish it and it was like, okay, my new project people will publish it that much or not.

Or other ideas like, I don't want to be a copy paste of me. Like, okay, use the same formula for every project. And I. And I think too much.

Judith van Vliet: You're a woman.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah, yeah. And. And honestly, I. I struggle with the imposter syndrome a lot. Yeah. I mean I'm working on it and I think I really better and my therapist is the best.

But I should say in looking for the balance, I am Libra.

So I'm looking for the balance all the time.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah.

Maye Ruiz: So for me, balance come from question myself and also.

But in a good way. I mean, resisting the comfort zone. What could be. I mean, these copy paste, like replicating formulas that have worked before.

Also it's easy to stick what people like. But I think the responsibility or my responsibility as designer is continue exploring, experimenting, expert experiment. Experimentation is one of the most important things to me.

And growing to maybe like, okay, the eye of the. The people are on me.

So I think I have this responsibility to like never stop looking for and growing.

But at the same time, I think we live in a super big world full of amazing designers and people and also say like, okay, I'll do my best and even if don't publish my project or I don't have enough likes or you know, like being grounded, like, okay, this is not that important because you already did your best.

You already are like experimenting, growing, looking for inspiration and looking for this creativity thing. We'll See, maybe the next project will be better. But at the end, I think when you put your heart in what you do, it's like, okay, the rest don't depend on me.

Judith van Vliet: No, no, that's true. And it's. It's the good. It's the best start you can do to put your heart in it.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah. So I. I don't know. It's. It's funny though, because at the beginning, we. We talk a little bit more. A little bit about spirituality, like a God and like a prayer.

Well, I came from a pretty religious context, actually, and my background, it's really, really religious. And I live in San Miguel de Allende, which is really baroque and religious and traditions and stuff.

Actually, in my kitchen, I have a verse that say, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men. For me, it's like a constant reminder, like, yeah, do it your best and we'll see what happens.

Judith van Vliet: We can only do our best. I think that that's very well said. What do you believe is next in color in the field? Like, how do you see color evolving in the future?

Maye Ruiz: Wow.

I don't know. I mean, I am. I am kind of negative person.

Yeah. Sometimes to me, it's hard to have hope, you know, like, oh, my gosh, what will happen? I would love to see about color. I mean, and I think it's happened since you invite me to the podcast.

I think more about color and about a lot of things. And for example, talking about the people that cannot see or eyes can see, you know, and I really think about it like, oh, my gosh, live without color, without vision, you know, and I would love for the future have more technology to these people, to feel the color, to live the color in some way.

I don't know a lot about that, but I would love to see more technology and more artificial intelligence working with that. Also, I see color more through this lens of psychology.

For example, I can't believe that hospitals always have awful colors. I mean, you want to heal people, you want to help people.

Judith van Vliet: There's a lot of work done in hospitals and psychiatric clinics and prisons, schools.

Maye Ruiz: Super shocking. Not. I would love to have more investigation, more information, and really put the color inside. Because, you know, for me, a lot of years, as a spiritual person, to me, for years I feel a little guilty.

Like, okay, I love and I am passionate about something superficial people. I mean, I live in Mexico, and in Mexico, we are a country of really contrast economy. Also a good part of the population can.

Don't have time to think about Color or money and harmony.

And I will love to see color for everybody to help in some way. No, actually I should say a lot of neighbors where people, I mean, they are enriched.

And I love how the houses always are full of color because to me, I think color, it's something that really help to democracy.

One thing I say to my clients is like, okay, it's not the same white marble, that white drywall.

So I think because when, when you use a lot of whites or neutrals, you need more texture, more budget. But one really amazing thing with color is with less budget, just paint, you can change a whole space.

And yeah, and this is amazing. And I think I would love to see color not just for the privileged people or for the superficial. I mean, I would love to see color more things related with health, with education, with people that cannot see, you know, with, with needs.

More important than just a house with good taste.

Judith van Vliet: Yeah, I think color, I think that's also where color is going to go. It's going to go more into well being and health obviously for, for those of us who are going to dedicate ourselves to that area.

And I think that's, it's a good goal, you know, to have color that is for all. Just like, like you said now it seems to be something for somebody who can afford it, not necessarily for everybody.

But then when you go to indeed different neighborhoods, no matter where you are, whether you're in Brazil, whether you're in Mexico, whether you're also in Africa, you see color. So yeah, it's just not applied.

Always as thoughtful, but it's there. But I think definitely color for health and well being is a, is a very interesting direction. Yeah.

Maye Ruiz: Yeah. What I say, I think makes sense because wellness is one of the biggest things coming ahead. Yeah. The resume could be color and wellness.

Judith van Vliet: Thank you so much for all your insights. Maya. It was amazing to. It was even just amazing to look at your house with all the colors, you know.

Thank you for everything that you shared with the audience of the Color Authority and gracias, Gracias.

Maye Ruiz: And thank you so much for having me. I really enjoy it and I love to talk with other parts of the cult. So I love it. Thank you so much, Judith.

Judith van Vliet: I hope you enjoyed this very last episode on the color authority for 2024. I want to thank all my listeners for following us, for listening to the podcast. I hope you're going to stay with us for 2025.

I want to wish you a happy holidays and also remind you you can now follow us, but you can also comment. So if you want to communicate with us, make sure you do either on on Apple or you do on Spotify, wherever you're listening.

And we will talk very, very soon in 2025 with yet another exciting podcast.