Gabriela Noelle is a Miami-based artist and designer whose work blurs the boundaries between art, design, and play. Known for her vibrant, interactive, and nostalgia-infused creations, Noelle crafts imaginative pieces that invite engagement and exploration. Her work transforms everyday spaces into whimsical environments, encouraging a sense of wonder and connection.
With a multidisciplinary approach, Noelle seamlessly blends artistic expression with practicality, ensuring her pieces are not only visually striking but also functional and interactive. From her signature toadstools to large-scale installations and collaborations with brands like Larroudé, her work brings a playful energy to both public and private spaces. She embraces unconventional materials and techniques, infusing her designs with curiosity and adaptability.
Beyond aesthetics, Noelle sees art as a tool for connection. Through interactive workshops and installations, she creates spaces where people can engage, create, and experience joy together. Her work is not just about visual appeal—it’s about participation, exploration, and reimagining the way we interact with our surroundings. Her inspirations are rooted in nostalgia, color theory, and a fascination with the natural world. She continuously experiments with new forms, materials, and scales, always seeking to push the boundaries of interactivity and immersive design. Looking ahead, she envisions expanding her work into large-scale playscapes—environments that encourage creativity, movement, and mindfulness.
In this interview, we explore the inspirations behind her designs, the balance between art and functionality, and how she continues to innovate through playfulness, experimentation, and community-driven projects.
JAYARAM LAW: Your art often incorporates elements of playfulness and childhood nostalgia. What is it about these themes that inspire you, and how do you think they resonate with viewers?
GABRIELA NOELLE: About eight years ago when I had my first solo show, my work was very symmetrical, precise and machine made. I would spend hours on my computer hyper-focusing on tiny details, prepping lasercut files and CNC routing files only to produce highly delicate pieces that felt like they couldn’t be touched. I realized that wasn’t how I wanted to spend my time, nor the energy I wanted my work to reflect. When I had my daughters, my work shifted in style and technique, and I really didn’t have the luxury to spend hours fixating on details. The result was more loose, carefree and childlike and I realized that I felt much more present while creating. My work has always been about childhood nostalgia, but this shift in my process helped me realize that this sense of playful and unadulterated presence is what I want to inspire in others.
JAYARAM LAW: You’ve been involved in several community-based installations and exhibitions. How important is community engagement in your creative process, and what role do you think art plays in fostering a sense of community?
GABRIELA NOELLE: Community is everything to me, although it wasn’t always that way. For a while, I felt like I was creating in my own bubble and focusing on the production so much, I lacked a sense of camaraderie and connection. I produced A LOT, but was left feeling empty in the end and wondering if I was really making a difference. Last year, I made it a point to engage with my community, my hometown, my peers and friends and slowly but surely, the sense of community has grown. My goal is to bring people together, craft together, to inspire playfulness, and design moments that remind us we are all sharing this planet of beautiful, yet finite resources. One direct way to encourage engagement is incorporating workshops into my process where art can be the catalyst for communing and can have an immediate effect, even if it’s a small one.
JAYARAM LAW: What is your process when starting a new project? Do you start with a concept, or do you let the materials and environment guide you?
GABRIELA NOELLE: I wish I had a simple answer. I’m almost always obsessing about creating and think of my brain as a search engine with windows and tabs open of upcoming projects, mood boards, and production files. It’s mostly random, sporadic, spontaneous, and quite intense.There are some overarching concepts that are central to my work like my Imaginary Friends and Adaptive Species that are constantly evolving, and sometimes I receive prompts from galleries I work with, which influences and helps to diversify my work. For instance, I was part of a group show hosted by Mazel Galerie in Belgium who partnered with Sato Gallery from Japan to create a group show that merged Eastern and Western philosophies called “Natsukashi” which translates roughly to “Nostalgia.”During my research, I discovered Japanese techniques that I fell in love with and that have become staples in my work.
Another big influence right now is my new home – I spent almost three years living in my parents’ home where I shared a room with my daughters to save for a home of our own. Designing and decorating our new home feels so rewarding and fuels me with inspiration – it feels less like decorating and more like I’m expressing my identity, and I find myself designing and creating pieces for a specific room, wall, hallway, or function. With the new home I get to practice my already eclectic and multi-disciplinary approach to creating, and it feels very liberating to create without any boundaries.
JAYARAM LAW: Your designs often bridge the gap between art and functional design (e.g., your shoe collab with Larroudé or your furniture pieces). How do you balance aesthetic value with practicality?
GABRIELA NOELLE: I love the challenge of not compromising either, honestly. The collaboration with Larroudé is a great example – the Larroudé team was so professional and experienced that they made dreaming up my wildest dreams in a shoe easy and possible. In contrast, with my toadstools, the production is something I do in house, so it took about six months of prototyping to get the patterns right, the foam density, the fabric, the seams…etc. But practicality is a large part of my process, and I think it’s fun to bring an artistic and animated quality to something practical and part of our daily lives.
JAYARAM LAW: You’ve mentioned your Toadstool series, which blends playfulness and functionality. Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind this piece and how it evolved?
GABRIELA NOELLE: About three years ago, I created a series called “Happy Flower Cuddle Puddle.” They were floral-shaped floor pillows made from a continuous gradient featuring eight petals – they sound simple but required 32 pattern pieces per flower and were sooo difficult to assemble and manufacture. This cuddle puddle was created for NY-based designer Tyler McGillivary (awesome designer, BTW!) and did so well on our first release, she placed a second order to sell on her website and I took FOREVER to produce. I think the toadstools were born out of sheer anxiety that I was taking so long, or maybe the necessity of fulfilling this order with similar vibe (60s inspired seating).
Ironically, creating the gradients for the toadstools was and continues to be a calm, meditative process for me. The gradients and repetitive receding targets are inspired by Color Field painters like Kenneth Noland and Frank Stella, and I’m proud to say that I’ve created over 400 at this point and each gradient is unique, always. About this time last year I integrated an acrylic collector’s case that can be purchased with the stools so that they can be stacked or used as coffee tables.
JAYARAM LAW: Do you have a piece that holds a special meaning to you? What makes that work stand out, and what do you hope it communicates to people who experience it?
GABRIELA NOELLE: I do – it’s a series called Ode to Abuela. My work usually tells a universal story about childlike imagination, but with this series, I felt I finally touched upon my own personal story and roots and it felt so rewarding. Last year, on Father’s Day, I was playing football with my dad and boyfriend and I tore my ACL and meniscus (this all relates, I promise!). I had to have surgery, and it was a long recovery process, which affected my work. I couldn’t make large scale paintings or Imaginary Friend sculptures or toadstools or drive for months. I was quite desperate to create, so I started making smaller scale paintings, drawings and collages – something I don’t usually do. It was as if I was channeling my great grandmother, who used to work in florals and miniatures.
During this time, I was approached by Private Gallery in Wynwood to be part of a group show for Hispanic heritage month, and I thought these small works on paper inspired by my Cuban great grandmother would be perfect. I happened to have a collection of my great grandmother’s frames I was hoarding (keep in mind, I’m still living in one room in my parents’ home), and the distressed, vintage look provided such a nice contrast to my bright and childlike works on paper. My boyfriend and I continued the hunt for vintage frames, and we had them resized with a local manufacturer my grandmother used to work with when she owned a frame shop on Calle Ocho. Compared to my pieces that usually require working with multiple vendors, this whole process felt very organic and freeing and the process of hunting for vintage frames was in line with my goal of preserving our planet and “reframing” the old or abandoned.
JAYARAM LAW: Your work encourages interaction and exploration. How do you envision people engaging with your pieces, and what do you hope they take away from those interactions?
GABRIELA NOELLE: I think my future work will encourage even more interaction and exploration. I’d like to play with scale and create massive playscapes in the form of “treehouse/playground” type of structures that pop up all over the world. Hopefully, these giant, interactive structures create opportunities for children and adults to meditate, be with one nature and just play. With these, I hope to use more natural, recycled and native materials with a focus on biomimicry and intuitive design, as well as planting wildflowers that attract a healthy and diverse ecosystem. I’m hoping that this encourages a return to symbiosis with our planet and our inner explorer.