Javier Peña

Javier Peña is a dreamer who is passionate about the world of materials and the matter it is composed of. In this book, he puts forth a dream that has become a wish: that the language of matter is everyone’s language, similar to the language of numbers, letters and musical notes. He does so through what we know today as gender identity.

The youngest of 7 brothers, he lived in his village, Caleruega until the age of 18. It was there where he discovered two fundamental things: the value of family and the wisdom of nature. He went on to study Chemical Sciences in Barcelona and received his PhD working with intelligent materials. It is at that moment that matter became the centre of his learning. He was then able to achieve both of his great dreams: to form a family and to be a teacher, as there is no better way to learn than by teaching. He currently teaches materials at ELISAVA under the umbrella of Design and Engineering and he is one of the creators of Materfad. He has carried out projects and research; he has reflected, written, and published various books and articles as his small contribution to the knowledge of materials. As Scientific Director of ELISAVA he has become a ‘matterist’ (having a passion for matter) who has learned that the mission of science is none other than to question knowledge. He is an admirer of Nikola Tesla, projecting his principle that says that everything in life is energy, frequency and vibration; he dares to think that the form of everything is nothing other than the harmonization of matter and energy. He then realized the need to empower society with the knowledge of matter, transforming the perception of the famous Periodic Table of the Elements. He also aims to give visibility to the elements that compose the table in the same way that they compose us and the world in which we live.