Make. ✦ Think. Discover.
A Reggio Emilia–inspired creative studio for children from birth through twelve — an atelier, a community library, and a coffee bar for the grownups who bring them.
Chispita Studio was born from a simple thought: a space where children create freely, think deeply, and feel at home in their own curiosity — it didn't exist here. The kind of place I always wanted for my daughters. The kind of place I was fortunate to experience in different forms growing up. So we're building it.
A little spark. The small, bright flash before something catches — what a fire begins as, before it becomes a fire.
Every child is born with a spark — the instinctive reach toward the paintbrush, the press of hands into clay, the tower built and knocked over and built again. It is not something we teach. It is something we are all born with. The studio is named for that spark. Not because we light it. Because we make room for it.
"There are one hundred languages of children — a hundred ways of thinking, of playing, of speaking."
Loris Malaguzzi · founder of the Reggio Emilia approachChildren see the
world differently.
When we give them space to create, there is no limit to what their minds can make.
We get to see their world through their eyes. And for us as parents, that moment is everything.
That is what Chispita Studio was built for.
From the very
beginning to twelve.
Seed in earth · drifting on air · ignited by fire · open to the sky
Seven atelier sessions serve ages 12 months through twelve. Tiny Seeds story time lives in the Library. Each one is designed around where a child is developmentally — not just how old they are. The names carry two languages because a word said with warmth belongs to everyone who hears it.
Children spend their days in structured environments. Chispita Studio is the other thing — a place where a child can follow a thought wherever it goes, get lost in a material, and walk out having had the best hour of their week. The learning is real, but it's not why we built it. We built it because every child deserves a place that is simply, completely theirs.
Every space was
designed with intention.
Chispita Studio is not a classroom. It is three connected environments — each designed around a specific purpose, a specific group of people, and a specific philosophy. No two zones feel the same. But they belong together.
"The path matters more than the destination."
The creative engine of the studio — a working studio, not a classroom. Not where children come to make art, but where they come to think out loud — and the materials are the language. An acrylic easel wall, birch work tables, a sensory corner, a building corner, and a guide moving through it all.
"A space that was built for you. Not just for them."
Specialty coffee from a local roaster, operated by us. A place to exhale. A glass wall gives a direct sightline to the Atelier and the Library — your child can see you and go deeper; you can see them and let go, just a little. Grownups are not a footnote in the story of their child's discovery — they are essential to it.
"A space that belongs to everyone."
A sculptural tree at the center, turf reading steps that invite the body into reading, a curated collection built with care, and a listening corner. Not an amenity for paying members — a community space. Anyone can arrive with a reservation. Anyone is welcome.
Reggio Emilia.
In plain language.
"Children are not vessels to be filled. They are sparks to be ignited."
It began in northern Italy after the war. At its center is one idea: every child is already curious, already capable, already a thinker. It is not a curriculum — no worksheets, no right answers, no scripted lessons. It is a set of principles that shape how the space is designed, how guides work, and how children spend their time.
Children are curious, intelligent beings who learn through inquiry and making. We design for that — not around it.
The physical space is designed to provoke curiosity. Open shelves invite exploration. A gallery wall says: your work matters. The tree says: you are welcome.
A child who spent forty-five minutes pressing their hands into sand was fully, completely somewhere. Where they went is everything. What they made is how they remember it.
Children's thinking is documented and displayed. It shows them their ideas are valued — and invites families into the process.
The making happens in relationship — between children, between children and guides, between the studio and families. Families are not drop-off customers. They are partners. Their presence is not a policy. It is the model.
Steffania
Rivera-Latorre
Mother of two daughters under two. I spent four years designing buildings for other people's visions. Chispita Studio is the first space I've designed for my own children — and every child like them.
I looked at this city — one of the fastest growing in Florida, full of families, beautiful in its mix of where everyone is from — and I saw what wasn't here. No Reggio Emilia studio. No space where a child could create and explore freely and just go. So I'm building it.
"I have two daughters. And I want them to grow up in a city that made room for them."
Florida International University · 2022
2022–2026 · Project coordination
latorre.design
Opening Q4 2027
Be first.
We're not open yet — but you can be. Join the founding member waitlist and your place is held before the doors ever open.
You're on the list.
We'll be in touch before anyone else knows we're open. Thank you for believing in Chispita Studio.