Keki Keselman: Play Is Serious, Very Serious

Mindsparkle: Que Calido Studio DATE August 18, 2026 EDITOR Mindsparkle Mag Keki Keselman: Play Is Serious, Very Serious Que Cálido is part branding studio, part cultural antenna, part beautiful mess. Led by Keki Keselman in Buenos Aires, Que Cálido speaks in a language of food, humour, emotion, strategy, music and provocation — always circling back to one belief: brands are not built for audiences, users or markets first. They are built for people.In a creative world increasingly shaped by speed, trends and artificial sameness, Keselman is interested in something slower and stranger: observation.

Noticing the best architecture in a beehive, the best colours in flowers, and the best drama between animals. For him, creativity is not about producing more. It is about feeling more.The studio has built visual identities across food, music, healthcare, finance and culture, from Chimichurri to the People's hand-painted approach to a mattress brand that refused to talk about sleep.We spoke with Keki about copy-waste culture, human branding, Buenos Aires, intuition, AI, chimichurri, and why play is not the opposite of serious work — it is serious work.Keki Keselman, recording from the studio.A campaign reel for Banco Galicia.✜ Hey Keki, happy

to have you. You’re not just showing finished work online — you’re also talking, questioning, joking and sharing your way of seeing things. Did building a public voice become part of the studio almost naturally?→ For me, everything eventually comes together naturally. Today, speaking to society and trying to show people, from whatever place each of us occupies, just how artificial we are becoming feels like an essential mission.Questioning the world is as natural to me as breathing. I’m not satisfied with simply accepting what is already there. I believe there is so much more beyond the comfort of doing what we are told.

What I want to spark in others is the question itself, because on the other side of a question, freedom appears.Sharing finished work today means showing only one part of the story, and we’ve grown tired of revealing just the tip of the iceberg. It feels selfish. Creative work is not only about the outcome; it is far more complex than that. Otherwise, it becomes like a painting hanging in a museum; how deeply does it really move us?The journey is the richest part of the process, because that’s where the greatest intensity lives.

So we decided to let go of perfectionism a little and open the studio right down the middle, like a Barbie house, allowing people to see what we carry inside, and who we truly are.✜ For people discovering Que Cálido for the first time, how would you explain what you do without using the usual branding studio words?→ I love not using the usual branding terms, even though there’s an industry that often pushes you to define yourself in a very linear, easily digestible way. It’s hard to understand something different when everything today is so literal, so explicit.

That’s how we end up having to be so clear that we all start sounding the same.For me, that tension is a challenge I face every day. But the key is finding the balance.If I had to bring it down to something more practical, we create. We bring new things into the world. We help materialize the dreams of people who take the risk of building businesses and turning their ideas into something real.That might mean shaping someone’s entire experience inside a restaurant, or thinking about how people interact with a new product: its packaging, materials, colors, and textures. What do we feel when we walk into a bank? Or a hospital?

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The article presents a significant perspective on the role of play in branding, which is increasingly relevant in a market focused on human connection, making it impactful and relevant, though the concept of play in creativity is not entirely new.