Magic Realism

AT HOME IN MEXICO CITY, MIKE DIAZ CONJURES A FANTASTICAL VISION GROUNDED IN HISTORY

- STACIE STUKIN

A CONVERSATION WITH decorative artist Mike Diaz careens from Mexican Baroque and Art Deco, to Japanese Mingei folk art, and on to ancient Rome, with a stop in Bolivia for a survey on the Neo-Andean architecture movement.

Recently, from the comfort of the Mexico City apartment that he shares with his wife, Maria Videl, and their chihuahua, Luigi, he’s been lauding the virtues of Georgian classicism—especially the stately homes of 18th-century British architect William Kent.

Diaz’s encyclopedic design knowledge comes from avid travel, infectious passion, and a keen eye that expresses itself in his idiosyncratic furniture designs. His disparate and devoted clientele includes designers David Netto, Pamela Shamshiri, Fern Santini, and Alex Papachristidis. Tastemaking photographer Douglas Friedman has 10 Diaz pieces. Design enthusiast Kevin Kwan, the bestselling novelist of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy is also a fan. “Mike’s exquisite objects subvert norms,” Kwan says of the appeal. “He’s like the anti-designer.”

David Cruz, whose Blackman Cruz gallery represents Diaz in Los Angeles, met him nearly 30 years ago when Diaz was an antiques dealer specializing in rustic, bold, and opulent antique furniture and folk art from Latin America and the Mediterranean, a secret source for designers in Europe, Japan, and the United States. When Diaz began creating his own designs, Cruz appreciated the historic riffs and the ecclesiastical aesthetic. “Mike’s designs are visceral and brave,” Cruz says. “He doesn't care about trends or what’s going on around him. He’s confident in his point of view.”