Hiram: from student to Professor to mountain sanctuary

Some of the best decisions in life begin as a change of plans. For Hiram Aragón, skipping a cinematography master's degree in favour of a bold new university in Barcelona set him on a path that would shape the next decade of his career — and eventually lead him back home to the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico.

Hiram never planned to come to Harbour.Space. He was already set on studying cinematography when a friend mentioned a new kind of university — one pulling together brilliant minds from across the creative and tech world. Curious, he looked it up.

"I checked the programme, I saw who was coming to teach, and I was like — okay, this is something."

Barcelona was a city he'd always wanted to live in. The programme was in Interaction Design. The teachers were professionals who had actually lived the industry. He decided to trust it, and jump.

Hiram was part of the first-ever Interaction Design cohort at Harbour.Space — a milestone he looks back on as a turning point.

What makes Harbour.Space different, according to Hiram, isn't the curriculum — it's the environment. He describes it as a "hub of knowledge", unlike any traditional university he's encountered since.

"The environment that is created here is unique. That is something that doesn't happen in other unis."

And he's in a position to know. Over the past ten years, Hiram has returned to Harbour.Space as a lecturer and teacher — giving back to the same community that shaped him. He teaches at other universities too, which makes the contrast clear. At Harbour.Space, instructors aren't academics removed from the real world. They're practitioners who've navigated the messiness of life after school — and are honest about it.

"Yes, it is messy. Sometimes you're not going to like your clients or your team. But keeping that sense of curiosity — that's what gets you through."

His advice to anyone about to join? "Go for it, trust it, and close your eyes and jump."

After graduating, Hiram built a career spanning the tech, design, and creative industries. He worked with companies and collaborators around the world, applying the skills and mindset he'd developed at Harbour.Space from day one.

"What I learned here, I was easily able to apply. I was able to say — okay, I can find a job, I can collaborate with cool people."

But after a decade of corporate and agency life, something shifted. The skills were there, the opportunities were there — but so was a feeling that there was more beyond the conventional path.

So Hiram did something few people in the industry do: he went home.

His family has been guardians of the mountains in Oaxaca for five generations. Drawing on that deep connection to the land — and everything he had built as a designer and creative — Hiram founded Nube de Oro (Golden Cloud): a creative sanctuary in the mountains of Oaxaca.

The concept is as intentional as any design project he's worked on. Nube de Oro is a space to pause — to step away from the noise of the modern world and reconnect with your own creativity. A retreat for people who need to slow down in order to think clearly again.

It's a project that brings together everything: his roots, his craft, and the curiosity that Harbour.Space helped him nurture.

From an unexpected first day in Barcelona to building something entirely his own in the Oaxacan mountains, Hiram Aragón's journey is a reminder that the best education doesn't just teach you skills — it teaches you to trust yourself.

And sometimes, the greatest creative work is the life you design for yourself.