STUDIO MIKE DÍAZ
Design: Studio Mike Díaz | Photo: Courtesy Of Wiseman & Gale
The Custodian of Craft
Notes from our conversation with Studio Mike Díaz at Wiseman & Gale during the Spring ‘26 Edition of Desert Design Week. You can listen to the audio file here.
Mike Díaz describes his work as a culmination of references gathered over a lifetime, a dialogue of sorts with creatives of the past. Italian Baroque, Mexican Art Deco, Japanese Mingei, painting, architecture, ceramics, textiles, and woodworking all find their way into what he makes.
It all began in Nogales, Arizona, where he grew up surrounded by art and architecture. His mother studied art and art history, and his father studied architecture at the University of Arizona. As a child, Mike spent hours looking through architecture books and became particularly interested in how architects drew. “I taught myself how to draw and design,” he said. “That’s kind of how everything started.”
Through a family connection, he began working with Holler & Saunders in Nogales, the cult design destination known for its rare Latin American and Spanish Colonial antiques. After briefly attending Parsons in New York and spending time traveling, he returned to become Eddie Holler’s assistant, a role he held for nine years.
This influence remains present in his work today. Mike now works with workshops in Michoacán that are connected to the same tradition, although he sees what they are making as an evolution rather than a continuation of any one style.
“We’re very aware that a lot of what we do is continuing a dialogue posthumously with Eddie,” he said. “The things are very, very different than what he would have done, but this is kind of an evolution aesthetically.”
Travel has continued to shape his work. Mike spends much of the year moving through Asia, Europe, South America, North Africa, and other parts of the world. He describes himself as having a photographic memory, storing historical references and visual details that later return in unexpected combinations.
Arizona is part of that visual memory too, although he said it became more apparent after he left.
“Arizona has extraordinary light,” he said. “It’s this idea of space, and also how the sky and the vegetation and the soil, how the light and the colors bounce off of each other.”
The way creative work is discovered and shared is also changing. Social media, travel, and the ability to buy almost anything online have made the design world feel smaller. The traditional gatekeepers, he believes, no longer hold the same power.
Mike first noticed this shift in Japan, where some of the most talented people he encountered were no longer living in Tokyo or Osaka. They were working in villages and smaller communities, making extraordinary things away from traditional cultural centers. He believes the same movement is happening in the United States.
“You don’t have to be a New Yorker. You don’t have to be in Hollywood,” he said. “You don’t have to be in these places to be cool anymore.”
Still, access to the right objects does not necessarily create a compelling room. Mike spoke about people who buy the right chair, the right fabric, and the right art, only to discover that the pieces do not come together in the way they expected.
Photo Courtesy Of Wiseman & Gale
“Taste is a symptom,” he said. “It’s not a destination.”
For Mike, taste is the result of good decision-making. The same is true of craftsmanship. Technical skill matters, but it is only one part of a much larger process.
“You can’t just rely on really good craftsmanship to make a good aesthetic result,” he said. “It’s a culmination of many things.”
He sees his role as more than designing objects. He is working alongside craftspeople whose knowledge is becoming increasingly rare, with fewer young people learning the techniques needed to continue it.
“I think I’m just a custodian of a group of people in Mexico,” he said. “I have to protect these things that they do, because they’re dying.”
There is strong demand for the work, but its future is less certain.
“There’s nobody coming up,” he said. “It’s an honor to be a custodian of it.”
A collection of Mike Díaz pieces is available at the Wiseman & Gale Showroom in Scottsdale, AZ.
STUDIO MIKE DÍAZ
StudioMikeDiaz.com.mx
@StudioMikeDiaz
WISEMAN & GALE SHOWROOM
Wisemanandgale.com
@Wisemanandgale
4015 N Marshall Way, Scottsdale, AZ 85251