Designing Paths: Maria Sinisterra RGD shares her story as an immigrant designer

Maria Sinisterra RGD began her career in Cali, Colombia, where she received a BA in Graphic design at the Universidad del Valle. After working in the design industry there for several years, she moved to Georgia to pursue an MA in Graphic Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). 

When considering where to continue working after graduation, Maria was drawn to Canada after meeting many welcoming Canadians while living abroad–and chose Vancouver–a small city full of people from all over the world, with a mild, forgiving climate that felt like a natural transition for someone from the tropics. She has lived in Vancouver for the past six years and recently launched her own design studio. Maria has been a Certified RGD Member since 2022. 

How has living in Canada shaped your visual language, and can you share a project that reflects that?

A project that stands out is our design studio’s website redesign, which is still in development. What's funny about it is the accent colour we chose—our core brand is white and dark grey, but the accent colour we ended up with is sage green. It's a super popular colour in Vancouver, especially in interiors and fashion and it reflects the culture's emphasis on nature and calm.

It was an unconscious decision—we weren’t intentionally choosing "Vancouver green," but it ended up that way. Interestingly, the green also connects to Tarigrades—microscopic organisms we took inspiration from. When you look through a microscope, that's the exact green you see and we brought that into our brand. It started as a conceptual choice but ended up tying back to Vancouver in a meaningful way.

What top three career highlights of yours stand out to you since moving to Canada?

Becoming Certified RGD was a huge one. It added trust for our clients and collaborators. Coming here from the U.S. and Colombia felt like starting from scratch, so getting that certification was a big step forward.

Founding my design studio in 2021 was another major milestone. And just this past January, I made the leap to work full-time on the studio. We also expanded our services to include branding and interior design. I co-founded the studio with my husband, who is an interior designer.

After completing my education in the U.S., my plan was to return to Colombia and apply what I learned. I did that for a while, but I was curious for more, looking for a place my partner and I could flourish together. My husband—then just a friend—was also looking to move from the U.S. back home, in his case to India. So, we started researching where we could go next to grow professionally and feel welcomed. Canada was a no-brainer. 

When you moved to Vancouver, what inspired you to start a design studio?

When I first came to Vancouver, I started as a student in a six-month program. Afterward, I did a six-month co-op to complete the program. Then COVID hit. I was freelancing at that point and brought my husband into the process. We began brainstorming together.

I was working on a campaign for kids and proposed the idea of a board game—something that could be played at home since kids couldn’t go outside. My husband has a talent for 3D thinking, design perspective/thinking and volumes and I really liked his ideas. We realized we worked well together. Since we already had a few freelance projects going on, we thought—why not make it official?

The goal was always to combine our specialties: branding and interior design. Initially, it was tough to incorporate interior design—it requires more permits and local knowledge. But my husband gained experience working in local studios, which helped us move forward with that dream.

Who would you welcome as new clients to your business?

Now that we offer interior design, we’re especially looking for clients with a strong customer-facing focus—hospitality, restaurants, hotels, retail stores, wellness spaces and commercial products. These are the kinds of projects where we can combine branding and interior design.

See more of Maria Sinisterra RGD's work or get in touch: 

• Website: tardigradastudio.com
• Instagram: tardigradadesign
• Facebook: tardigradadesign
• LinkedIn page: Tardigrada Design Studio
• X: tgdadesign

You can find more Newcomer related resources on here. 

Looking to learn more about Designing Paths? Email us at community@rgd.ca.