Leo Barrios

Leo Barrios is a Mexican American artist and furniture designer living and working in San Antonio. His work blends traditional craftsmanship and artisanal techniques with sculpture and innovative design to reimagine the link between form and function. Barrios uses only sustainable local and domestic woods, embracing and responding to their natural variations and imperfections of color, shape, and texture. His work explores storytelling through materiality and imagination, believing in the power of furniture to inspire by reorienting the way we relate to the life of objects.

Born in El Paso on the US-Mexico border, Barrios is highly influenced by the traditions of his Mexican heritage. In his father and grandfather’s workshops, toys and everyday objects came to life and nurtured his passion for design and woodworking. He studied architecture and graduated from UTSA where his discovery of international design cultures led him to furniture-making. Barrios trained with San Antonio-based Mexican American artist and master craftsman Peter Zubiate before opening his own design studio in 2017. A solo exhibition of his sculptural work, “The Human Condition,” was exhibited at the Contemporary at Blue Star in San Antonio in 2025

Leo Barrios https://www.leobarrios.com/