JUAN MORENO

We are happy to introduce you to Juan Moreno @johnbrowncalui, interior designer and art dealer from Barcelona. Read his full interview below.

1. How was John Brown Projects born?

JBP was born out of an ideal dream of unifying my two real nations in life; Interior design and Art.

2. Explain us a bit about your career trajectory.

At the time, the decision to study Business was one of the hardest decisions of my student life. However, I was convinced that if Art and Interior Design were to be my real vocation, they would subsist and that I would return to it later in life. And so it proved. I started working in a gallery in Paris once I graduated and after I embarked in creating my own studio where we bring art and interior design together to create unique spaces of harmony and joy to our clients.

3. We know that after finishing your degree in finance, you completed your internship at Christie's auction house. What did you learn from that experience? 

I carry great memories out of that experience. It was really overwhelming to be in NY and to be able to learn so many things from amazing artists and great professionals. I was 22, and I am still so thankful to have had the opportunity. It gave me a brilliant opportunity to see how the market works and how clients interact with art in the private sector. Also It was the first time in my life touching a Picasso, Soulages, etc...( I loved it!!!) I've learned that I wanted to help emerging artists! None of the one's we were selling were alive so it gave me a really great opportunity to see how I wanted to focus on emerging artists.

4. Where did your interest in art and interior design come from?

To be honest, I have always fed my passion for art and interiors with books and magazines, courses and travels and indeed my love for art has not died but grown along with me. I remember going to bed with a bunch of decoration magazines and dreaming about that one day I would be able to do my house.. And look where we are now!

5. How do you join these two worlds?

I have good criteria for creating interiors and I also make a unique approach to art pieces, which I integrate in a domestic context. Our interiors are mously for people who also seek to live with quality contemporary art. I also represent emerging artists, I connect them with the art environment and I organize exhibitions around the world.

1. How was John Brown Projects born? 

JBP was born out of an ideal dream of unifying my two real nations in life; Interior design and Art.

2. Explain us a bit about your career trajectory.

At the time, the decision to study Business was one of the hardest decisions of my student life. However, I was convinced that if Art and Interior Design were to be my real vocation, they would subsist and that I would return to it later in life. And so it proved. I started working in a gallery in Paris once I graduated and after I embarked in creating my own studio where we bring art and interior design together to create unique spaces of harmony and joy to our clients.

3. We know that after finishing your degree in finance, you completed your internship at Christie's auction house. What did you learn from that experience?

I carry great memories out of that experience. It was really overwhelming to be in NY and to be able to learn so many things from amazing artists and great professionals. I was 22, and I am still so thankful to have had the opportunity. It gave me a brilliant opportunity to see how the market works and how clients interact with art in the private sector. Also It was the first time in my life touching a Picasso, Soulages, etc...( I loved it!!!) I've learned that I wanted to help emerging artists! None of the one's we were selling were alive so it gave me a really great opportunity to see how I wanted to focus on emerging artists.

4. Where did your interest in art and interior design come from?

To be honest, I have always fed my passion for art and interiors with books and magazines, courses and travels and indeed my love for art has not died but grown along with me. I remember going to bed with a bunch of decoration magazines and dreaming about that one day I would be able to do my house.. And look where we are now!

5. How do you join these two worlds?

I have good criteria for creating interiors and I also make a unique approach to art pieces, which I integrate in a domestic context. Our interiors are mously for people who also seek to live with quality contemporary art. I also represent emerging artists, I connect them with the art environment and I organize exhibitions around the world.

6. What projects are you currently working on?

We are currently working on many projects, some in Barcelona, a special project in a summer town and also an exciting apartment in Milan.

7. What is your creative inspiration?

First I always need to understand why the client is hiring us in the first place. And get into their lives and see what they like. When I get an overview in my head then I can start designing what I believe they are going to like.

8. Who have been and are your mentors?

My mentors have been my director during my internship at Christie’s and all the artists, designers and architects that I love. I still learn from them all everyday.

9. What references would you like to share with us? A book, artist or an exhibition that you would like to recommend? 

A masterbook I love is François Halard’s own book, his unique photographic sensibility is an indispensable must-have visual resource for all lovers of Interiors, Art and Style. For an artist, I would recommend On Kawara, he has based his collection of paintings and drawings on the arbitrariness and subjectivity of the way we measure time. I discovered his work in a retrospective at the Guggenheim museum in 2015. The catalog for that exhibition remains as one of the most precious books I have. An exhibition I would recommend, just opened and it’s Felix Gónzalez-Torres at MACBA, that presents a political reading of his work as well as the exemplary importance of the work for queer aesthetics. 

6. What projects are you currently working on?

We are currently working on many projects, some in Barcelona, a special project in a summer town and also an exciting apartment in Milan.

7. What is your creative inspiration? 

First I always need to understand why the client is hiring us in the first place. And get into their lives and see what they like. When I get an overview in my head then I can start designing what I believe they are going to like.

8. Who have been and are your mentors?

My mentors have been my director during my internship at Christie’s and all the artists, designers and architects that I love. I still learn from them all everyday.

9. What references would you like to share with us? A book, artist or an exhibition that you would like to recommend?

A masterbook I love is François Halard’s own book, his unique photographic sensibility is an indispensable must-have visual resource for all lovers of Interiors, Art and Style. For an artist, I would recommend On Kawara, he has based his collection of paintings and drawings on the arbitrariness and subjectivity of the way we measure time. I discovered his work in a retrospective at the Guggenheim museum in 2015. The catalog for that exhibition remains as one of the most precious books I have. An exhibition I would recommend, just opened and it’s Felix Gónzalez-Torres at MACBA, that presents a political reading of his work as well as the exemplary importance of the work for queer aesthetics.

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