We chatted with Rocío Egío, illustrator of the "LA VIDA BIO" collection

"May has come, a garden in every meadow" 🌼

We are not very fond of sayings, but we have to admit that they often contain traces of truth. It's mid-May, spring is already here, and nature lets us know by filling every corner with colour. At Minimalism we couldn't turn our backs on this torrent of hues, so here is our new capsule collection .

This collection is very special, as it is made up of Rocío Egío , a Spanish illustrator who fills the world with colour and joy, and Asana , a company committed to the food sector and organic living.

Continuing with our premise of making all possible information available to you, we have interviewed Rocío Egío, the creator of the cool illustrations in this collection entitled " LA VIDA BIO ".

Hello! Tell us a little about yourself, who is Rocío Egío?
Starting from the beginning... Hello friends! My name is Rocio, I have always been a very obedient girl, a 10 year old girl who didn't question or complain, always smiling . I have always loved painting and drawing and when I was little I dreamed of studying fine arts and being an artist. In my context, the idea of ​​me being an artist and dying of hunger didn't really interest me and as I have already said, I was a 10 year old girl and my abilities allowed me to do much more than just paint.
In my line as a disciplined girl, it seemed like a good idea to leave my dream of fine arts aside and continue with what everyone believed would improve me: studying architecture. During my degree I always knew that I was not going to work as an architect, but I learned a lot and had a great time. I did Erasmus in Switzerland and then lived for 6 months in China where I “tried” to learn Mandarin. When I returned from the Asian country, I finished my final year project with honors (of course, I was a 10-year-old girl) and decided to leave Spain.

Leaving Alicante and moving to Switzerland was like starting a new chapter. I did a master's degree in graphic design and started looking for work as a designer. I worked for a couple of years, just enough to save some money and make some contacts, and then I quit. I was very clear that I wanted to work on my own. So, a bit crazy and without any strategy behind me, I started working as a freelancer .
2018 was the year I reconciled with the girl who dreamed of being an artist, now less obedient, more mature, with clearer ideas and more of a badass. These years I have been working on various projects in graphic design, set design, a bit of retail architecture and above all illustration. These years have been a gift, I have been able to develop (and continue to do so) my artistic voice, I have taken time to play and experiment and I have worked with incredible people and projects all over the world.
Now I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

When and why did you start illustrating?
I have always drawn and I think being dyslexic has played a big role because my head works visually.
For me, translating a text into a graphic language, whether infographics, illustrations or icons, is the natural and necessary process to process and understand information. I remember that when I was studying, until I drew (in infographic form) the content of the exam, the information did not sink in. I find a long paragraph very difficult to process and I have always relied on visual language to learn, understand and assimilate ideas.

We can say that my mother tongue is visual and everything seems less complex to me with color and geometric shapes, if I'm not drawing something, I'm thinking about it in a visual language.

Tell us a little about your role models, those people who inspire you.
My grandmother Carmen is a woman devoted to her family, children and grandchildren. Her home is full of abundance, abundance of love, generosity, joy and abundance on the table.
Anyone who knocks on the door is invited to eat and everything is shared. She is an exceptional cook and always wanted to open a bakery.
Grandma Carmen was very modern for her time and she always told me and my cousins, “Baby, when you grow up, don't depend on anyone, follow your dreams and your career, study, have your job and live your life.” When I was 7 years old, I didn't really understand all this, but now I tell myself how right Grandma Carmen always is!

Do you think that the Spanish illustration sector has reached a state of maturity or not yet?
I speak without fully understanding the context. I have been away from Spain for quite a few years and my contact with the illustration sector in Spain is more digital than having experienced it first hand.
I think that in Spain we have a very cool value, which is our attitude. We are very forward-thinking and we are not afraid to do crazy things, to experiment and innovate, we always go beyond the established and this is a point of maturity and daring. In my context in Switzerland
Spain often appears as a benchmark in the sector and examples of projects and festivals that are held there, and I love it and I am very proud of it.
On the other hand, where I do think there is a lack of growth is in society. I find it very serious that the career of an illustrator or any creative or artistic career is not yet considered a “serious” career. Here, illustrators and creatives have the responsibility to educate a little for the future.

If you hadn't been an illustrator, what would you have liked to do?
There are a lot of things I would like to do and I think that being an illustrator is a stage, I don't think I'm going to spend my life doing the same thing, right? I like changes and starting new projects so dancing and cooking are still on my wishlist haha!
I've been very involved in the world of cooking lately and I'm sure it will gain more momentum in my projects in the near future. I also want to try my hand at education, my mother is a teacher and has always inspired me a lot.

The truth is that I would love any career in artistic expression and when you have a personal brand it is very easy to be able to apply your universe and experience in another sector and dedicate yourself to something new for a few years. I think it is a good life plan.

Where does this strong connection with the gastronomic world come from?
My grandmother Carmen and my mother, who are the ones from whom I have learned and continue to learn a lot.
We are a very devoted family, food and sharing the table is a sacred ritual. Grandma doesn't always cook, my uncles and cousins ​​are also passionate about it and there is always an excuse to get together and try each other's delicacies.
Growing up in this context influences you a lot and when I lived alone at the university I was able to develop it and I began to bring out that potential and that love of cooking.
One of my most precious treasures are some cards that I found at home a few years ago.
Cards with my grandmother's handwritten recipes from the 80s that she gave to my mother when she left home. These are the recipes I use every day and I can't wait to spend the time putting out an illustrated book with all of them.

What have you sought to represent and communicate in this capsule collection?
My work always seeks to convey a positive, optimistic and enthusiastic message. I am a person with a lot of energy and these values ​​are very much in line with my personality. If one of my illustrations brings a smile to someone's face and transmits a little bit of JOY , that's the best thing for me.
The theme of the collection is “BIO LIFE” and for me the climax of this lifestyle comes with the celebration of the arrival of spring. I think I idealize it much more because I live in Switzerland and that is, April comes and you start to live your day to day more outside than inside the house, you connect with nature, you enjoy the colors, the blue sky and the fields full of flowers.
daisies and their aroma. And of course, eating delicious and sweet fruits that overflow in the markets.
I wanted to convey that boost of energy and positivity that the arrival of spring brings, which is the same state of joy and peace that you feel when you follow an organic lifestyle.

A simple recipe that you will like
Grandma Carmen was a big fan of fruit salads (not so much anymore) but she loved making Tutti Frutti salad for dessert. I suggest a recipe with the seasonal fruits from our t-shirt:

Orange, melon, plums, loquats and cherries, all cut into cubes. Juice of half a lemon, a little orange juice, chopped mint, honey to taste and a little grated dark chocolate on top.

Voilà! A salad full of light and color, delicious for a snack. 🥗

What role does color play in your life?
Wow! Color for me is energy that can be seen and touched. It is an essential ingredient in my work, clothes, home, decoration and food dishes.
Colour connects me with my childhood and the Mediterranean. There is a big difference between the colour palette of Alicante (where I am from) bright, pure and very contrasting colours and the colours of Lausanne (where I live) where everything has a glaze and the colours are more pastel.
Surely my colour palette would have developed differently if I had never moved from Alicante, I would not have the need to reconnect with those colours through my work because I would already be in such a colourful environment.
In addition, color helps me emphasize the optimistic and positive messages I want to convey.
The use of color is very powerful and can change people's mood, it's magic.

Do you follow an organic lifestyle? In terms of nutrition, sport...
I have a doubt, it depends on what you mean by bio life when you ask me the question haha! I don't feel very comfortable putting labels on myself.
For me, living an organic life means living a balanced life. A balance between work and leisure, a balance in nutrition, although I don't follow any specific diet, but I love to eat well and take great care of what I cook and put on my table.
The balance between myself and my social life is also very important to me. I take good care of myself, I like to have time for myself, I love walking in nature (living in Switzerland is a joy), playing sports, dancing and meditating, I value that a lot too.
I have a calm lifestyle, aligned with myself and quite connected with nature, yes let's say it's Bio :)

What is minimalism to you?
There is a phrase by Constantin Brancusi that defines very well my way of working and my attitude:

“Simplicity Is Complexity Resolved”

This phrase also sums up very well what I understand as minimalism, staying with the essence of things, eliminating noise and distractions that do not let you see the solution to the problem and embracing the simple and the pure. Be careful! It is very difficult to achieve this simplicity in the world we live in, but if we can apply it even just to some facets of our life, it is already an achievement.
My work is perceived as clean, easy, simple or minimalist and I think that again comes from that dyslexia. The exercise of simplifying things a lot and filtering them to assimilate them before being able to project them again makes me go to the essence. For example, the fact of using perfect geometries or a reduced flat color palette comes from that obsession with going for the simple and communicating in an “easy” way.

You live in Switzerland, where would you recommend we visit?
For city lovers, the cultural offering in Switzerland is amazing. That was one of the first things that caught my attention. Cities in Switzerland are quite small, Zurich is the largest and has only 400,000 inhabitants (for comparison, it is more or less the same as Murcia) but even though the cities are mini, the cultural offering is incredible, museums, exhibitions, music festivals, events, concerts. The best of the best always happens here. In addition, the whole country is very well connected by train and you can go from one end of the country to the other visiting cities and museums.
And then for nature lovers, Switzerland is a paradise, you have to visit the Alps. Last summer we did a trip that we loved, the Route des Grandes Alpes that goes from Evian to Nice. We left Lausanne and went through Italy too and we did it by motorbike, but it was full of caravans and people who do it by bike too. A great weekend! A great plan!
If anyone is interested in coming to Switzerland, say hello! and I'll tell you more.

Do you miss Spain?
It goes through a few stages, but not too much. I've been living here for 5 years and I'm very happy with my routine, dynamic, home and friends. I also feel quite lucky because, thanks to my job and the flexibility that being a freelancer gives me, I can go to Spain and spend several weeks working from there and recharge my batteries.