Meet Maria, AKA Cayenablanca. She’s a lover of nature, is inspired by antique botanicals and lives for vibrant colour explosion.
Maria Virginia is an artist / graphic designer specializing in textile design. Cayenablanca comes from finding a personal creative space to explore new styles and trends. Originally from Venezuela, Maria currently creates in Madrid, but much of her influence comes from Latin America, with its vivid colours and organic textures. However, the Iberian metropolis also defines her work with its organized chaos and neon signs. She has several years of experience in the field and with clients originating from Venezuela, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, among others.
Shop all of Cayenablanca’s designs
Hey Maria! First, let’s start with the basics. Describe your style in 5 words.
Bold. Organic. Intense. Honest. Personal.
We can see that! What experiences helped form your artistic style today?
When I was doing my Master Degree in textile design I won two big awards here in Spain, that helped a lot to my growth as an artist because it made me realize I actually could do it for myself.
If you’re running low on creative inspiration, what’s your remedy?
Just walking around with my dog, Iggy, clears my head a lot. Usually when I come back home, I have new ideas in my mind. The crucial thing is not letting the fear or the frustration of not being creative enough run through your head.
5 Things you can’t live without?
My brushes, inks, scanner, camera and laptop.
Describe one thing not many people know about you.
I am too hard on myself, always asking for more, looking for perfection, but art in general is so subjective it is impossible to know what perfection means.
If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not famous, living or dead, real or fictional…with whom would that be?
Coco Chanel
Bungee jumping or skydiving?
Skydiving!
If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
A multicolored one, for sure.
If you had a day to do anything you wanted, what would you do?
I would ask some friends to help me and we would live paint a building.
Oh! An outdoor mural would be so beautiful from you. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why?
I would love to live on an exotic island. I just love to be surrounded by water the sea gives me such a peaceful feeling. And I can work from wherever I want so that would not be a problem.
Tell us about the story behind one of the designs you have in your gallery on DENY Designs.
I want to tell you about a recent design that is called Barcelona Geo. I live in Madrid for seven years and recently I moved to Barcelona and although I visited the city before living here, it has been such an inspiring experience. I was inspired by the texture on the buildings, the mix and match of Gaudí´s work and the vibe of the city.
Shop BARCELONA by Cayenablanca
We love your gallery wall. Can you describe some of those pieces?
In my gallery wall you can find artwork that is very personal, that has my signature style all over with organic lines and splashes of colour and that evokes my childhood memories when I was living in Venezuela. There are a lot of patterns, experimental graphics and colour.
You have so many great finds and treasures spread throughout your home! Tell us the story behind a few of your favorites – where/how you found them and any ones that you DIY’d!
My favorite treasure has to be a vintage chair I got at a flea Market near my home in Madrid. I bought it very cheap and and I sent it to an upholsterer with one of my printed fabrics I had at home, I loved the result so much that a while after I found another armchair in a very bad shape in front of my place and I recovered the wood and did all the upholstery work myself, I love it too! I also love a series of vintage botanical prints my dad gave me to me when I moved out, we share the love for flowers and nature in general. 
How has your artistic and home style evolved over the years?
I’ve always been very drawn to home styling and decorating, for me it is very important that your workspace and your home inspire you to create beautiful things or just to relax and feel safe. Living away from home in a foreign country makes it sometimes difficult to have everything in place and looking sharp, but I do my best!
In your craftiest of adventures, tell us about your greatest Pinterest success and/or fail.
I wanted to try the food styling and healthy recipes world, so I did one of my favorite summer recipes : vietnamese spring rolls and I shot all the process and I uploaded it on my pinterest profile, people loved it! It’s not my thing but I loved the experience. Another success is having designers contacting me to create custom made prints for their collection because they saw part of my work in my profile.
Coasters Shown: BIG 2 by Cayenablanca // Plate design: FLORAL FRAME by Cayenablanca and INK FLOWERS by Cayenablanca
How do you change up your home for different seasons? Any tips/tricks to make it feel fresh?
Here in Europe the apartments are so tiny! When I get bored, I change the distribution and create something nice, different, depending on the season. Summer time is all about bright colors and lots of seasonal fruits and flowers. In the winter I try to create an environment that keeps us away from the cold physically and mentally too. I think having a new art wall or even a new cushion can make a nice difference.
We love that! We believe home decor can help with those winter blues too. What is your most cherished home accent piece? Why?
I would have to say my plants. I have so many and different plants everywhere at home, I think they give a fresh feeling to the apartment is like the space is alive.
If you had to choose a piece of your own artwork right now and build a room around it, which piece would you choose and how would the space look?
I would choose to work with my psycho orchids collection, it is a personal ongoing project I’ve been working for a while now. The artwork is full of textures and depth, so the space would be full of layers creating new dimensions in where the designs will create different sensations playing with scale.
Shop ORCHID 3 by Cayenablanca // Shop ORCHID 2 by Cayenablanca
You can invite 6 people (anybody! Living or dead) to a dinner party. Who made the list and why?
William Morris, he was an amazing artist and establish the modern fantasy genre.
Andy Warhol, he really knew how to sell himself and his work.
Army Ratia, I would love to ask her so many questions.
Alexander Mcqueen, just because he was the best.
Bill Murray, some laughs will be great.
Grant Achatz, the way he created art with food is just amazing, hopefully he would cook for us!
What is one of your favorite quotes?
There is always calm after the storm.
Tell us an interesting/fun fact you recently learned. (about anything!)
Gratitude makes you happier!
Where do you see yourself as an artist in 5 years?
I would love to see my work evolve and be prepared for new opportunities and projects.
We love it! Thank you, Maria. We’re so happy you’re a part of the DENY Artist Family!
DENY DESIGNS 