Mario Ruiz (born 1965 in Alicante, Spain) graduated with a degree in industrial design from Barcelona's prestigious Elisava Design School.  He started his independent professional career in 1995 with the opening of his own studio in Barcelona.  Ruiz has collaborated with several manufacturers including Siemens, Steelcase, Teknion Studio, Offecct, lapalma, Thomson, Arflex, Haworth, Grundig, Palau, Gandia Blasco, Expormim, HBF, Metalarte, Joquer, and B.lux.  For many of these clients, he not only undertakes projects directly related to their products in their respective fields (residential and office furniture, lighting, textile design, product design) but has also acted as creative director defining their product.