IE University Professor and National Design Awardee Héctor Serrano's Retrospective Exhibition in Madrid
The showcase distills 25 years of work and includes a solidarity project supporting Valencia’s recovery from the 2024 floods.
Héctor Serrano, recipient of the 2024 National Design Award for his career achievements and a professor at IE School of Architecture and Design, celebrates his significant impact on the field with a retrospective exhibition as part of the Madrid Design Festival 2025. Héctor Serrano. El viaje entremedias. 25 años conectando (The Journey In-Between. 25 Years Connecting) highlights his innovative design vision and ability to create functional and emotionally resonant objects.
Curated by design journalist Tachy Mora, the exhibition is open from February 27 to March 30 at the Central de Diseño in Matadero Madrid, bringing together nearly a hundred of Serrano’s most iconic works, ranging from lighting and furniture to transport projects and social design. The contents are structured around six key concepts defining Serrano’s creative process: innovation, memory, intuition, emotion, creativity, and immersion.
Works that reinterpret traditional elements with a contemporary twist - such as the Tierra, Mar, y Aire lamps, 3D-printed with recycled bioplastics, and La Siesta water jug, a fusion of the traditional Spanish botijo and a plastic bottle - take center in this exhibition alongside creations like Porrómpompero, an accessory that transforms a wine bottle into a porrón, and the Waterproof lamp, which re-contextualizes aquatic lighting. Projects that explore Serrano's engagement in design experimentation, including educational kits for Kikkerland, are also showcased, along with ephemeral installations and exhibition designs such as projects for the Coachella Festival (on the cover with image by Jakiens) and World Design Capital Valencia 2022.
The exhibition also presents a solidarity project titled Raíces (Roots), in which Serrano has transformed 85 roots collected from Valencia’s beaches into vases, paying tribute to the towns and villages affected by the DANA storm in October 2024. The funds raised from the sale of these pieces will be donated to CERAI Centro de Estudios Rurales y de Agricultura Internacional, an organization working to rebuild family farms in the Sot de Chera region.
Trained in Industrial Design and specialized in Product Design, Héctor Serrano founded his studio in 2000. Since then, his work has been exhibited in museums such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York, establishing himself as one of the most influential Spanish designers of recent decades. He collaborated with renowned brands such as A-Emotional Light, Ezpeleta, Faro Barcelona, Gandia Blasco Group, Muji, Porcelanosa, Roca, and Seletti.
Héctor Serrano is also a professor at IE University’s School of Architecture and Design, where his expertise and approach to design education contribute to shaping students' understanding of creativity, innovation, and user-centered design. As part of IE University’s program within the Madrid Design Festival 2025 edition, students from the Design Studio II course - guided by Héctor Serrano, alongside faculty members Miguel Leiro, Eli Gutiérrez, and Pablo Alabau - showcased work-in-progress projects that utilised CMPlastik's recycled panels exemplifying sustainable design processes for reimagining industrial plastic waste.