Interview with Costa Rican Designer & Digital Artist Monfa

Costa Rican-born and Mexico-based designer, illustrator, and digital artist Monfa builds charming, child-like worlds from basic geometric shapes. His series of works illustrating remote, worn, and sometimes seemingly uninhabitable habitats, Monfa creates a lore without clearly drawn characters. In these pieces, the characters are implied by the place they live the same way footprints imply a certain species was here.

A sense of mystery and wonder pervades his body of work, whether it be peopled or un-. An astronaut fishing off a cliff. A floating lamppost. A humanoid 808 drum machine. A world-touring cardboard box named Henry.

“The subjects of my drawings are many, but I think I can summarize them as fantastic and almost real places, borrowed memories and almost forgotten dreams.” — Monfa

Visit Monfa’s storefront

MP: I read that you only started seriously pursuing art and design after your son, Santiago (aka Santy), was born. Can you tell me about that decision?

When my son was born, I made contact with my childish side, and it was like an explosion of inspiration that gave me new ideas every day. It allowed me to focus on sincere themes that I’d ignored and forgotten. In the beginning, I thought I should look for external themes that were “saleable,” when in reality everything was inside me.

Clearly, it is difficult to see a children’s theme in my work because, like my son, my approach has changed, but the key that I have maintained is to allow myself to see the world from a simple perspective, like a child admiring the world for the first time, like when my son came into the world

From that moment, when he was a few months old, I realized that I had to give more of me in all aspects and that art was the right way to demonstrate my abilities. I do not consider myself someone who was born with talent. I formed my talent based on effort and extra work.

During that time, I had an office job far from my house, and it was heavy days, but even so, I decided that I had to give it my all and more, and every morning, I got up at 3:00 am to draw a few hours before going to work.

I was very clear about my goal: I wanted to be an artist, not for fame or money but for having the passion for doing something and teaching my son that if you do something you like, you will be happy with yourself.

Dawn Beam by Monfa

MP: Can you explain your obsession with habitats?

I think the day I find the answer to that question will be the day I stop drawing habitable structures. There is a certain need to feel comfortable with a subject or technique in order to explore other areas, be it artistic exploration or pushing boundaries further.

Habitable structures are a childhood memory. In fact, the way I draw houses is the same way I drew houses as a child from simple geometric shapes. Now, after going through different techniques, schools of art, and academia, I have taken up the theme as an…