LIVING SANTA with Diego Beauroyre
The new chapter of our Living Santa stories presents Diego Beauroyre, a Mexican graphic artist and designer. Now based in Mexico City, Diego is originally from a small town in the middle of the woods of Morelos – Huitzilac. The natural surroundings he grew up in play a key part in his work, and his exploration of the multiple facets of nature fascinates us. Keep reading to find out more about his work, his routine, the objects he surrounds himself with and his view on the elements that make up a home.
Where are you answering from?
I’m swinging in the hammock in my living room in Mexico City. We’re having some last days of heat before the end of the summer.
How would you describe your work?
My work explores the limits of abstraction, representation and understanding of nature. I grew up surrounded by woods, and I found comfort in the wild around me. I like the idea of bringing the wilderness inside and making the outdoors a safe place. I keep a sketchbook where I draw figures I see in nature and, after some studies, I turn those sketches into paintings or ink drawings. I like drawing outside, but while I’m at my studio I like having slow but early mornings, watching the light change throughout the day and drinking cofffee. Music is also important, I create a new playlist every month with the music I work to.
What is your favourite place at home?
I’m very lucky to be able to work and live in the same space! I have a few favorite corners, but if I’d have to choose, it’d be the space I paint in. I have plants on shelves and hanging from the ceiling and there is good light most of the day. The leaves from outside draw beautiful shadows on the floors and walls.
And your favourite object at home?
My plants! But since these aren’t objects, I’d say my small hand-carved wooden molcajete and tejolote.
What’s on your bedside table?
A lamp, a copy of Bojour Tristesse I can’t finish, a handmade Tarahumara basket where I keep some scented oils, and a diffuser.
Favourite morning ritual?
Waking up just before dawn, making some coffee, skipping the rope or going for a quick swim if I have time, eating fruit and sketching.
Favourite evening ritual?
Going for a walk or biking around Centro. Having a late lunch with a fiend or cooking dinner with my partner.
Something you always do before going to bed?
Having a glass of water and turning on the diffuser with a nice scent. Sometimes I kill the mosquitoes who managed to find their way into my room.
The pleasure of waking up, or the pleasure of going to sleep?
Waking up on weekends and seeing my room and apartment full of light, looking into the street and hearing Mexico City’s morning sounds.
In the summer: blanket or no blanket?
No blanket.
Pyjamas or no pyjamas?
Only when it’s cold.
Your favourite bed outside of your home?
I’d have to pick the bed in Casa Mermejitas circular room on the beach in Oaxaca. I love sleeping with the sound of the waves and the breeze, and waking up early with the sun coming up from the ocean.
A bedside book?
El gato que vino del cielo (The Guest Cat), by Takashi Hiraide.
A song to go to sleep to?
A song to wake up to?
Beneath the forest floor by Kodak’s.
What’s a dream you remember?
I can’t remember a recent one, but I remember one where I was traveling on a bus on a winding road in the rocks, next to the sea. At the end of the road, there was a a beautiful cove full of corals and flying fish.
