An Emerging Award-Winning Designer
It is difficult to surmise whether Gueston Smith chose design, or design chose him. Gueston Smith grew up with a curiosity for the natural environment and a talent for drawing and sketching. At age 12, he promised his mother he would design a space for his sister to accommodate her special needs, which was extremely difficult to find at the time. Following this path, he has emerged as a designer in the fields of architecture and beyond. Today, Gueston is a polymath, cross-disciplinary innovator, expandable business trailer designer, luxury shipping container home designer, entrepreneur, and martial artist, using design to create impactful solutions.
Born in Texas, USA, Gueston had a supportive family and a younger sister with cerebral palsy who passed away at age 9. Her joyful life motivated Gueston to strive to become the best version of himself that he could be. As of today, He has earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Southern California, got certified in Entrepreneurship from Harvard Business School Online, and became a Certified Professional Building Designer (CPBD). He was awarded two A’Design Awards for Mental Health & Wellness Spaces and Education, Teaching Aid & Teaining Content Design. The A’Design Awards are among the world’s most influential and largest design accolades, known for their outstanding 278-member jury panel.
While working in design/construction tenant improvements for a large corporate company after college, Gueston took many chances to challenge and develop himself. He took an 8-week improv class. He explored various design disciplines through Pensole Footwear Design Camp, which led him to start his own graphic design company, Guesscreative, in 2017, which initially provided modern, simple, modern and clean brand design services for over 50 clients. Driven by his vision to combine his passion for architecture and branding, Gueston explored the functionality of pop-up experiences and evolved Guesscreative into a design agency focused on bespoke empathetic solutions for memorable physical experiences, prefab building design, signature apparel / footwear, and self-actualization information for the community. Guesscreative has created a 20’ luxury mobile retail trailer for a Black owned company called Cise LLC, a luxury facilities storage unit for Cerritos College in Los Angeles County, 4 signature sneakers and sports electric ATVs called the WASP. Guesscreative now offers customizable movable spaces globally that can be placed and set up in 15-20 minutes by one individual. Guesscreative also offers a cool clothing collection inspired by cool sketches he used to draw as a kid called the “I AM” collection which promotes self-empowerment in understanding that “I AM” are two of the most powerful words in our language. He seeks to encourage self-belief, self-love, the knowledge of self, and self-actualization.
“Merging architecture, business, creative design thinking, and graphic design skills, I set out to create spaces that are not just practical & useful, but also cool, luxurious, and next-level innovative. This journey took me from creating brand identities to developing innovative mobile modular business spaces. At Guesscreative, we seek to provide creative solutions that are functional, cool, and transformative. We cater to entrepreneurs, luxury brands, and institutions, transforming ordinary spaces into extraordinary mobile assets for easy setup and short delivery times. It is more than a building; it’s about connecting, and making spaces that amplify human potential,” shares Smith.
In 2019, Gueston became Head of Design & Operations at Kubed Living, one of the leaders of shipping container home design in the world on Instagram, which specializes in luxury shipping container residential design and plans to partner with developers for functional shipping container residential developments globally. Kubed Living has designed and constructed ADUs, wine-tasting bars, a high school green house and several breath-taking custom shipping container home structures including a 3500 SF fire-proof steel modular home and a 9920 SF home with 34 shipping containers that were recently approved for construction. Kubed Living offers shipping container floor plans that are approved by the state of California (HCD).
Based in Los Angeles, Gueston leads his businesses with honesty. His vision is influenced by Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do martial arts philosophy, highlighting the synergy between mind, body, and space. Gueston strives to “take what’s useful and leave the rest” – Bruce Lee. With that philosophy, he values adaptability, consistency and simplicity. He seeks to reduce things to their simplest forms and use cases to then be reimagined in a more practical way.
Gueston’s decision to practice martial arts reflects his spiritual curiosity. He desires to understand more about himself to be able to provide a larger impact on the world. The journey of self-actualization is a difficult journey but it is extremely valuable. “The journey to realizing who I am has been key to my success. Like architecture, I design my life with that same level of creative intent, planning, management and mathematics. I’m all about architecting cool and thoughtful projects. My time playing create-a-player / customization video games as a youth led me to understand that life is a game. Play but play seriously – you can shape it to be what you want, step by step. Even on the late nights with no sleep and all grind, I stay sharp through independent education, martial arts, healthy eating, journaling and actively maintaining a positive state of being. These choices maintain my confidence and keep me aligned with the highest version of myself. For me, great business requires high vibration. It requires staying true to myself in order to attracting abundance and opportunity.”
Gueston believes in forging an independent path, much like the jaguar spirit animal he resonates with. To him, success is not about material gains but the progressive realization of worthy goals with relentless determination and self-belief, the material gains will come.
His success reflects his creative thinking and commitment to being himself. He aims to expand Guesscreative’s services, products, and education to inspire a sense of self and community through design thinking.
“My drive comes from choosing personal freedom and crafting the life I dream of. My sister, Talyia Vassé Smith, is my inspiration. Her memory pushes our family to pour empathy and excellence into every project. My mother, Demetrica also owns a beautiful 10 acre outdoor event venue in Fort Worth, Texas called Vassé Rendezvous. I designed and placed a luxury 40’ shipping container lounge to provide an interesting space of engagement on her venue. With Guesscreative, I aim to create projects that inspire, enable, and encourage others, mixing design thinking and innovation, while staying true and grateful.”
In a changing world, Gueston’s blend of architecture, love for nature, martial arts, and entrepreneurship has helped him begin to build a legacy of empowerment and inspiration. Summing up, he says: “If I can dream it, I can create it. Whether you think you can, or you think can’t. You’re right.”
Do you want to connect with your audience in innovative ways? Interested in an expandable business pod to purchase an asset for your business? Looking to support Guesscreative by checking out their cool clothing/footwear collections? Visit www.guesscreative.com for more.
