Nicole Vindel

I am a Barcelona-based Creative Directress and Artivist generating new narratives of food. Born in Guatemala, grown in Spain, and with mixed roots, I have been living between Israel and Spain. My cross-cultural connections brought me to intertwine diverse fields as interaction, identities, ecologies, and everything in between. Some people described me as a "food artist hungry for change" (Vogue Spain 2021). I am hungry tho, and by combining intellectual and formal beauty I aim to raise curiosity towards relevant issues we can only face collectively as a society.

After graduating as Industrial Design Engineer in Elisava, I connected materiality with gastronomy, by designing tableware for the leading 3 Michelin-star restaurant El Celler de Can Roca. There I got to discover the power of food to generate empathy, awaken critical perspectives on daily actions and choices, and create opportunities to reflect on the unspoken. My practice strives to challenge the current system and rethink our relationship with food, via symbolism and senses. Designs help me unveil the potential out of each material in symbiosis with nature and humanity from a planet-centered perspective.

I am the co-founder of Random Happiness, an art collective using happiness as a revolutionary tool, and Food Design Nation, a digital platform to collectively design better futures of food. From there and my own studio, we co-create projects and teach at universities including Elisava, IED, or LCI. I have also worked with cultural institutions FoodCultura Foundation, BCD Barcelona Center of Design, and El Tercer Paraíso, among others.