At COCOLAB, we believe care is both a science and an art — a ritual that can brighten your mood as much as your smile. This holiday season, we partnered with Brazilian illustrator and designer Rafaela Mascaro, the visionary behind
@studiograndpere to reimagine our oral care gift sets through her dreamlike, color-rich lens.
Inspired by nostalgia, sunlight, and the sweetness of small moments, Rafa’s artwork transforms our holiday collection into something more than packaging — it’s a celebration of joy, warmth, and renewal. In this conversation, she shares how tropical color palettes, surreal textures, and emotional design can turn a simple daily ritual into an act of beauty and self-expression.
Tell us a little about yourself — where you’re from, how you got started in art, and what drew you to the bold, colorful world you create today.
I’m Rafaela Mascaro, a Brazilian illustrator and designer behind Studio Grand-Père — a visual universe where color, nostalgia, and surrealism meet. I grew up surrounded by tropical nature, candy wrappers, and 2000s pop aesthetics, which all shaped the way I see the world: playful, colorful, and full of light.
I started drawing as a kid and never really stopped — painting, photographing, and experimenting with textures until I found my own language: a mix of digital gloss and gouache warmth, with floral dreamscapes. Over the years, that language evolved into collaborations with brands, musicians, and fashion labels, but at the heart of it all is the same spark that started it — a love for creating colorful worlds that feel alive, kind, and a little bit magical.
You’ve collaborated with global brands before, but what excited you most about bringing your art into something as unexpected as oral care?
What drew me to this collaboration was the opportunity to reimagine a daily routine through the lens of design and emotion. Oral care isn’t a category people typically associate with creativity or color — and that’s exactly why it felt so exciting. I wanted to bring a sense of joy, personality, and visual storytelling to something we all use every day.
For me, it’s about turning function into feeling — transforming a practical product into a small moment of beauty and self-expression. When design connects with people in their daily rituals, it becomes something deeper than aesthetics — it becomes part of how they experience care.
Your work overflows with color and texture — it feels alive. What sensations or emotions were you trying to capture in the art for our COCOLAB holiday collaboration?
I wanted the artwork to feel like a celebration of warmth, togetherness, and renewal — everything that makes the holiday season special. The colors are bright and radiant, almost glowing, to evoke that feeling of sunlight meeting sparkle — a reminder that care can be both vibrant and comforting.
I imagined textures that feel touchable and soft, like inflated ornaments or sugar-coated petals, to bring a sense of joy and generosity. My goal was to create visuals that make people feel embraced — that mix of nostalgia, festivity, and calm that defines COCOLAB’s world of care.
When people unwrap these gift sets and see your art for the first time, what do you hope they feel or take away from the experience?
I hope they feel an instant sense of delight and warmth — like opening a little world of color made just for them. The holidays are about emotion, connection, and care, and I wanted that to come through in every detail. If it brings a smile, a spark of nostalgia, or a feeling of softness in someone’s day, then the art has done its job.
Shop our limited-edition holiday gift sets by Rafa today.
