ABOUT MARIA MERAK
Maria del Viver Garcia De Olaortua (Maria Merak) is a Spanish fashion designer and a multidisciplinary artist born July 19, 1989 in Barcelona, Spain. Graduated the world’s most known Art School, she got her BFA from Parsons The New School of Design in New York City at a very young age. She says “she was re-born in New York City at the age of 18”. She is a direct talker and thinker “I do talk about everything, I am not scared of reality, I have never been, although I do fear indifference”.
She points out that she could have never challenged herself artistically if it wasn’t for the one person in her family, her pillar, “ the only person who firmly supported me through stormy weather and who truly knows my story, who I am. He is a civil engineer, his standards are high and it was for him that I worked this hard from a very young age, I never conformed and it wasn’t always an easy thing. I believe all this is his fault ” she states with sweet irony and she smiles “He always talked to me about how broad life is, how diverse and beautiful, how I always had to think big”
Maria looks outside the window silently and continues “I am humbled by all the beautiful and incredibly talented people I have met and I can’t be enough thankful for everyone who has participated in my life, this path is not an easy one, I don’t come from an easy place, to start with I never thought I could see so many beautiful places and meet these beautiful humans, but my life it’s been a fast and beautiful one with all the challenges in it, and I’m thirsty for more.” it’s 8:31 am, we are in my studio in Brooklyn, I look at her, she seats on top of the laundry machine while I add sugar to my coffee and I ask her to move to the chair and she says “from here I can see the skyline and think better” and timidly smiles at me again.
When I first met Maria I saw this young lady with he long hair, feminine energy, carrying all this stuff, running late and the timid smile; but the more I engaged in conversations with her the more surprised me how mature she is as an artist for her early age, and the depths of her mind, how much she has lived already, and that made me think about how that is probably what I found out to be one of the things some of the people I like have in common ; she doesn’t only appreciate the golden moments that life can offer, in fact she embraces the darkness in it, in a interview for a group exhibition she was part of in LES she stated “I believe that anybody with the genuine need to express has a dark story that needs to be told, and making it yours and bringing it to light is what makes us unique rather than hiding it, it is also what set us free. Often as viewers and the listeners we don’t need details in order to feel things, right? art for me is the same thing; often we create a meaningful piece of art which is self explanatory not because it is necessarily explicit in it’s form but because the person in front of it gets it, and that is the ultimate form of beauty, sending a message through without the need of words. That for an artist means success. ” and she continued “I am a truly admirer of complexity and the beauty that comes from it, living abroad turns people into more tolerant human beings, Paul Motian once told me that old souls travel young” damn, that hit me. I mean, how old are you?
After fine art and jewelry studies taken between Parson, FIT NYC, and Korea Town Studios in New York City, Maria presented her very first Design Portfolio at her 19 years old. In 2010 her first jewelry collection and mixed media art collection was selected at Parsons School of Design in New York City and at the same time she was active in the New York Art Scene, worked for New York City based designers, she assisted on commissioned art installations for Björk's house in Iceland, and was the main researcher, assistant designer and buyer for the new concert attire for musicians from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The cooperative project between the BSO and Parsons was started in 2012 to rethink the traditional tuxedos and black dresses of the concert hall. Derrick Cruz, threeASFOUR, Teen Vogue and and Vogue US where she quickly met some of the fashion world's most influential and inspiring mentors. After meeting her mentors she soon realized “she would never look at things in the same way again”, she mentioned in LES 2015 “it’s people who make your journey remarkable, and certainly I have had great mentors whom I will owe everything for the rest of my life, no matter how cyclical life can get, know that whatever you learn from others can’t be taken away from you. Knowledge is ageless, it remains, will never leave you, it can only expand through time” .
She soon learned she needed to keep translating her love and attention for detail towards her jewelry creation. “I have found in Jewelery the ultimate form of beauty in details, I have been captivated by how something so tiny and small can be so hypnotic”.
In 2015, after graduating from Parsons from BFA Interdisciplinary program in Integrated Design with special focus in Fashion Design, the designer decided to leave New York behind with her dream “to get inspired and fill my life with new experiences, leaving all behind” and devote herself to create her first collection of four delicate sapphire rings. “I wanted to do something on my own and I did, even thought I was used to team work and the journey for this new challenge was lonely for only one person the collection took off immediately and had a good response”.
Her answer to what triggered the gun was "In a world filled by uncertainty, Love is the only assurance. If you make something with love it will be beautiful it will be true, and I like to be surrounded by beautiful things".
Currently Maria is living in Miami and continuing growing her career as Fashion Editorial Stylist, Influencer, and Designer. She calls her brand "my baby", from Maria Merak she explores the delicate art of Jewelry Design and create unique commissioned wedding rings for dreamers and lovers. She is currently taking her work further “I am currently working into a life restrospective and something beautiful will come out of it". On her most recent talk at the New World School of the Arts she mentioned “my aunt who passed away taught me that love is unconditional, and I do want to translate that into my love for art making every single thing with true, unconditional love. If I am not going to inspire someone then I should be not doing it.”
Maria currently closed her e-commerce and it’s working on her second collection. She is currently accepting custom made orders.
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