We recently had the chance to connect with Gina Tyquiengco and have shared our conversation below.
Good morning Gina, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
My steadiness. I’ve carried a lot throughout my life and most people will never know the weight of it. I’ve always been the one who stays calm, who adapts, who figures things out without making a scene. Through every shift and every responsibility, I learned how to stay grounded without losing myself. I learned how to create in the middle of real life, how to keep growing, how to show up with clarity even when things were complicated. That quiet strength is what I’m most proud of. It’s the foundation under everything I make and the reason I can move through the world the way I do.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am Gina Tyquiengco, an artist and designer based in Central Florida. My work lives at the intersection of contemporary design, storytelling, and the inner world I have been shaping my entire life. I paint abstract pieces that explore texture, color, memory, and identity, and I bring that same intentionality into my design practice where I build brands, websites, and experiences for clients.
My art has always been rooted in personal evolution. For years I worked exclusively in black, white, and twenty four karat gold leaf. This year I stepped into color for the first time, influenced by my daughter and the way she sees the world. That shift became the foundation for my Bloom collection, which explores growth, grounding, and transformation in a very tactile and honest way.
What makes my work unique is the blend of disciplines and lived experience behind it. I am a self taught painter with a background in graphic and web design, so everything I make is shaped by structure and intuition. I create pieces that invite people to feel something real, to slow down, and to pay attention.
Right now I am expanding the Bloom series into multiple collections, building new work for future shows, and helping clients bring their ideas to life through thoughtful and intentional design. Everything I do, whether on the canvas or behind the screen, is about creating with clarity, depth, and purpose.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My nana. She understood me in a way no one else did. She always knew when something was off, when I was sad or unsure or carrying more than I could say out loud. She recognized my curiosity, my sensitivity, my independence, and she encouraged all of it. She pushed me toward my dreams but reminded me to pursue them with intention and pride.
She also saw a part of me I did not fully understand when I was young. She knew I was intuitive. She knew I had a spiritual way of moving through the world, even before I could name it. She was deeply spiritual herself. She prayed every morning and had quiet rituals that only a few people ever witnessed. I grew up watching her connect to something bigger, and I think she sensed that I carried that same instinct, that same inner awareness.
She taught me that family matters, that perseverance matters, and that strength does not need an audience. She gave me space to be myself. She let me think, feel, and grow without trying to shape me into something easier. So much of who I am, as a woman and as an artist, comes from the way she saw me before I ever learned to see myself.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
The closest I have ever come to giving up was during the birth of my daughter. I was terrified throughout my pregnancy even though I did everything right. I paid attention to my body in a way I never had before. The days leading up to her birth were almost unnerving because I was so in tune with myself. I felt ready. I was determined to have a natural birth like the women in my family before me. It felt like a rite of passage. I wanted to experience every part of it and I wanted to do everything I could to keep her safe.
The night she was born, when I reached eight to nine centimeters, the pain became something I cannot fully describe. It was the only moment in my life where I thought I could not go any farther. It felt like stepping outside my own body. In that moment, my nana came to me. Her presence was unmistakable. I met something divine in that space between fear and surrender. It was a life altering experience that changed the way I understand strength.
When my daughter finally arrived, the relief was immediate. She was here. She was safe. In that moment everything quieted. That birth shaped me. It taught me what I am capable of and became a reminder that I can meet even the hardest things with clarity, presence, and a strength that does not waver.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
I believe that creativity is spiritual. Most people separate the two, as if creativity is only a skill or a technique or something you produce. I experience it as something deeper. When I create, I am listening. I am connecting to something I cannot fully explain but always recognize. My intuition leads long before the work becomes visible.
We live in a world that trusts strategy more than stillness. People want formulas, trends, and quick outcomes. I move differently. My best ideas come from slowing down and trusting what I feel, not what I am told. That inner guidance has shaped my art, my design work, and the way I make decisions in my life.
To me, creativity is not just expression. It is clarity. It is connection. It is a form of knowing. Even if most people cannot articulate that or do not agree with it, it is the truth that guides everything I make.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope people say that I lived with intention. That I created from a place of honesty and trusted my intuition even when the path was not clear. I hope they say my art made them feel something real and that I paid attention to the quiet details most people overlook.
I hope the people who knew me closely remember the way I made them feel. Seen. Encouraged to be themselves. I hope they tell the story of a woman who followed her own path, even when it was uncertain, and who poured herself into her work without losing sight of what mattered at home.
I hope my daughter remembers me as steady. Loving. Present. Someone she could grow beside. Someone who showed her what it looks like to live with purpose and create a life with meaning.
More than anything, I hope the story people tell is that I moved through the world with clarity and care, and that I left something behind that still feels alive.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.steelehaus.com/gina-tyquiengco
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ginatyquiengco/
Image Credits
Marcia Bradley, Amber Steele
