Art and design are embedded in Gabriela’s DNA. Her chief mentor and greatest inspiration was her father, designer Manuel Ernesto Rodriguez Acosta and the legacy of her grandmother, documentary film maker, Gabriela Samper.

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Born in Bogota, Colombia’s capital city into a creative family - located at around 2,600 metres above sea level, it’s one of the highest capitals of the world. And one of the most vibrant, spilling across the Andes mountains and the savannah. 

Beauty was everywhere, including her family home. Which, today she would describe as a place with a theatrical atmosphere; Full of history, eclectic objects and  hopelessly influence by Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s Macondo. Always with the hint of Turpentine, Apple Tobacco and Palo Santo in the air (a wood burnt for positivity). 

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Her  passion for design started early. As she watched her father’s work in wonderment. And through a child’s eye, saw his designs appear like magic with every stroke of ink.  She knew in this moment, that she would be a designer . But it would be another ten years during an Art History class at Maria Mazzarelo (the only all-female college in the world with a bullring...) that  she would combine this dream with a vow to see the 7 wonders of the world.

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Today, the spirit of South America and native Hummingbird (that inspired the studio’s name) resonates through the way we think and work, and every project that is infused with beauty, colour and uniqueness.

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She may not have seen all the wonders ( … yet), but she have been privileged to conclude her  professional studies following an Interior Architecture degree at Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano in her native Bogota, Colombia, and finished it in Madrid at Istituto Europeo di Design. She also specialized in Management of Architectural Projects at Universidad Polytechnic of Catalunya FPC in Barcelona and in 2018 she made an Art Direction post-grade At Saint Martin's University in London and has over 15 years’ experience in the industry, working in countries Such, Brazil, Holland , Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom.

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Having settled in Brighton for the last 7 years. Her studio, Ella & the Hummingbirds specialises in bespoke residential interior design and commercial projects in the hospitality sector.

 

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