Photo by Kiron Ward, 2022
PROFILE
Sixto-Juan Zavala (he/they) is a designer, illustrator, researcher, and story-teller working between London, Dundee, and Austin. Narrative is a leading aspect of his practice asking, ‘what is the story here?’ and ‘why am I using this method to tell it?’ Zavala enjoys working with multimedia deliverables, including print, digital, environmental graphics, and spatial design. He is practiced in producing unified campaigns with attention to detail as well as an overall vision. Specialising in experiential design, Zavala has helped to deliver memorable immersive experiences in retail and cultural sectors. He has worked with gardens, museums, and galleries as well as charities, small businesses, and international companies. Zavala’s public speaking and presentation background has been developed delivering talks and designing presentations for the Victoria & Albert Museum, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Wellcome Collection, and others. It’s important to him to learn, grow, and share knowledge through self-initiated research, experimentation, and collaborating with peers and educators.
He is a proponent for diversity, inclusion, and centring the under-represented. He believes there is an influential role in design to empower underserved communities and help give them voice and agency. In the wake of the climate emergency Zavala often uses his work to encourage discussions around ecology and biodiversity. This often results with a focus on plant life and site-specific research.
SERVICES
Design: identity, narrative environments, interpretive display, maps, typography, editorial, art direction.
Illustration: digital collage, pattern design, illustrated type, pen & ink, brush & ink.
Research: story-mapping, queer community, queer ecology, queer botany.
Learning: talks, panels, workshops, consultation.EDUCATION
MA in Narrative Environments from UAL: Central Saint Martins, with distinction
BFA in Communication Design from Texas State University, summa cum laude
RECOGNITION
Zavala is the winner of the 2021 Spatial Cultural Equity award from the Spatial Practices Program Prizes and was nominated for a MullenLowe NOVA Award, the Spatial Practices Prize, and The Steve Lumby Drawing Prize. He has been featured in multiple publications including Fukt Magazine #22 (2024), Designing Gender: A Feminist Toolkit by Sarah Elsie Baker (2024), Graphis Poster Annual 2019, Plant Kingdom: Design with Plant Aesthetics (2015), and Communication Arts Design Annual 56 (2015). His work is in the collections of Mexic-Arte Museum and The Interspecies Library. Zavala has exhibited work in London, Germany, Chicago, Austin, San Antonio, and elsewhere.
SELECT CLIENTS
Barbican Centre (UK), Big Medium (USA), Chelsea Physic Garden (UK), I.T. Post Magazine (CN), Kings College London (UK), LG (KR), Little Joe Magazine (UK), McNay Art Museum (USA), Mexic-Arte museum (USA), National Trust (UK), PUIG (FR), Ritzenhoff (DE), Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (UK), The Royal Parks (UK), University College London (UK), Victoria & Albert Museum (UK), Wellcome Collection (UK)
Photo by Rosa Pascual, 2022
QUEER BOTANY
Zavala founded Queer Botany in 2020. Inspired by the theoretical lens of queer ecology, the project studies connections between queerness and plants through story-telling, design, and events. Queer Botany aims to share marginalised perspectives and support more diverse representations in the environment and outdoors. Zavala has designed maps, installed interpretive displays, hosted botanical drawing sessions, and guided walks sharing stories about plants. Queer Botany has worked with Chelsea Physic Garden, The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, The Victoria & Albert Museum, Wellcome Collection, Barbican Centre, The Royal Parks, and other organisations. Zavala was interviewed in September 2023 by Ella Braidwood at The Guardian about queering botany along with artist Jeffrey Gibson and writer Irene Reti. Read the article here.
Photo by Fabian Villa & Steven Casanova, 2023
ESSENTIALS CREATIVE
Zavala is a member of Essentials Creative collective, acting as an Art Director. Essentials Creative is a collaborative group of applied artists who come together to work on art installations and special projects. They produce multi-media experiences, which often incorporate photography, fashion, graphic design, video, lighting design, and projection. They create a platform for underrepresented artists to express themselves and find support within their field. Essentials Creative have worked with Chicago Botanic Garden, Big Medium, Luminaria, San Antonio Public Library, City of Austin, Mexic-Arte Museum, and other organisations.