About UB

 

We bring different views from the mountains.

We are a design studio from a small village in the Spanish Pyrenees. We work remotely and collaborate with a diverse flock of organisations in an international context.

Jeroen Spoelstra (Dutch) & Marcela Xirinachs (Costarican) founded Unbeaten Studio in 2018 after we left the cities of Haarlem, NL and Barcelona, ESP, at the end of 2017 to live and work in the rural and mountainous foothills of Northern Spain. Living and working close to nature changed our look at the design. We now look and work through a Life Centered Design lens.

 
 

Team

 
 
 

Jeroen Spoelstra

Co-Founder/
Designer

Jeroen is a leading figure in the design world on Life Centered Design. With nearly 20 years of experience, he will guide you in each design research and co-design project with his curiosity, empathy & love for solving riddles.

What comes naturally

Exploring, empathizing, gathering and building

My natural spirit

Roaming the lands and following the flows of the river. Comfortable in the not knowing. I admire the beaver as an ecosystem engineer changing water flows, which creates space for biodiversity to thrive.

Marcela Xirinachs

Co-Founder/
Designer

Marce is passionate about graphic design, especially helping good brands tell their stories. Life-Centered Design has changed how she designs, from working with brands that respect the planet to taking her inspiration from nature.

What comes naturally

Imagination, positive energy, open mind

My natural spirit

The Arbol de Guanacaste (Costarican native like me). I perceived myself as the home for my children, the same as the tree is the home for several species. Our roots connect us to our home. Mine are in different parts of the world.

 

Our international team of professionals

We work together with specialists from over the world. They vary from design researchers, facilitators, and graphic designers to motion designers and business designers.

We orchestrate a team based on the needs of our partners.

 
 

Our vision & mission

  • We envision a world where all life has its fair share to play. A world where humanity learns from nature, a world where we understand that we are part of nature and act accordingly.

  • We empower organisations & communities to create genuinely sustainable strategies with life centered design, and help you achieve growth that is good for you and even better for the planet.

  • We are responsible. We work based on our learnings from design & nature

    We use perspectives of individuals, communities and nature to make action possible.

    We design actionable strategies and prioritise outcomes that matter leading to impact.

    When we design, we play a reflective game between the heart, the hands and science.

See what services we offer. Have a look at our work to see how we put our vision in motion

Partner with us

We work with organizations & communities who seek new ways to connect with nature, with our human nature and our artefacts with the use of design. Who believe in new economic growth based on collaborative principles.