I’m so excited to finally introduce you to one of our fantastic designers, Julieta Racket of Nido (which means “Nest” in English). We’ve been carrying Julieta’s gorgeous handmade laptop cases for the past few months, so we’re thrilled to finally share a bit of information about the woman behind the work. Julieta has recently had a line of products featured and made available through Tienda Malba, (the premiere modern art museum in Buenos Aires), as well as a mention in the NY Times Magazine Blog, so we feel especially fortunate here at LAMA to work with such an accomplished designer who is well on her way to great things. We hope you enjoy leaning a bit more about Julieta! (ps. I’ll be posting the interview in Spanish below the English post for all of our Spanish speaking readers to enjoy as well!)

LAMA: Where do you live?

Julieta: I live in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. In a very nice and quiet neighborhood with lots of trees.

LAMA: What are your favorite things to do in your neighborhood?

Julieta: I really enjoy taking a walk (as long as I can and I have time, I walk to do my activities). I like going to the greengrocer, the small stores. I try to avoid the large supermarkets.

LAMA: How did you get started in your career as an artist/designer?

Julieta: I’m a graphic designer, graduated in 2000 at UBA (Universidad de Buenos Aires) and have since worked at various agencies. I always wanted to combine my work with more activities linked to the hand made. I have studied illustration for the past 5 years with a great teacher, and this will be my second year dabbling in embroidery in a workshop that I love. Years ago, I started to want to use my knowledge in design for achieving tangible objects and leave the computer for a little while. I have always loved fabrics and combining textures, patterns, and colors. I wanted to make a useful article and I thought that laptop bags were a good choice and allowed me to have fun with fabrics. From there I started and now I am adding other things to continue on!

LAMA: What excites you the most about your work?

Julieta: What I like about my job is the selection of fabrics and choice of different combinations. I love go to “Once” (Buenos Aires neighborhood where there is a concentrated amount of dry goods stores and shops selling fabrics, one beside the other on the street Lavalle). I frequently visit the stores that I like and I search and search until I find just what I need, or until I am surprised with something new and unexpected. And then I spend days studying what I have purchased and imagining how to combine them, what buttons they need, what color of zipper or ribbon… it’s an artesanal proces and I love! I enjoy it very much. Another thing I really like and is fairly new to me, is the possibility of joint creations with colleagues I admire. It’s great fun and I learn new and interesting things.

LAMA: Who are your favorite artist and designers?

Julieta: The truth is that I don’t have favorite artists or designers, or maybe I have too many! Some are changing, some are known, others are anonymous. Generally I admire subtle sensitivity, and that some have a lot to say with so little. I love when emotion arises from a judicious combination of material, what the material is, and how it is used.

LAMA: What are your favorite blogs and websites?

Julieta: Estudio Album, Mono-Blocks, Cobralibros, Molde, Foco, Una Flor de Papel, Good Morning Light, Now Idea, Collex, Grijs, Wikstenmade, Bookhou at Home, Mina Perhonen, Toto Kaelo, T Magazine NY Times, The Style Press, Dossier Journal, jjjjound, Redingote, Positively Melancholy, Byte

LAMA: Where do you hope to see your business 5 years from now?

Julieta: I hope NIDO continues to expand, adding new creations, new partnerships and collaborations in my country and around the world! I love doing what I do and I hope to continue doing so and continue to grow.

Thank you so much Julieta for sharing a part of yourself with us! To check out Julieta’s products at LAMA, click here. To find out more about Julieta, be sure to check out her website and flickr page. Also, check out our interview below in Espanol!

1. Vivo en Buenos Aires, Capital de Argentina. En un barrio muy lindo y tranquilo con muchos árboles.

2. Me gusta mucho salir a caminar (siempre que puedo y tengo tiempo, voy caminando a hacer mis actividades). Me gusta ir a la verdulería, al almacén. Trato de evitar los grandes supermercados.

3. Soy diseñadora gráfica, me gradué en el año 2000 en la UBA (Universidad de Buenos Aires) y desde entonces trabajé en diferentes agencias. Siempre tuve la necesidad de combinar mi labor con actividades más ligadas a lo manual; hace 5 años estudio dibujo con una gran maestra y este va a ser mi segundo año incursionando en el bordado, en un taller que me encanta!.
Hace algunos años, empecé a tener ganas de usar mis conocimientos en diseño para la realización de un objeto más tangible y salir un poco de la computadora. Siempre me encantaron las telas, combinar sus texturas, tramas y colores. Quería hacer un objeto útil y se me ocurrió que fundas para laptop era una buena opción y me permitía divertirme con las telas. Por ahí empecé y luego fui incorporando otras cosas y pienso seguir!

4. Lo que más me gusta de mi trabajo es el proceso de selección de telas y elección de las diferentes combinaciones. Me encanta ir “al Once” (barrio de Buenos Aires donde se concentran cantidad de mercerías y tiendas que venden telas, una al lado de la otra sobre la calle Lavalle). Ya tengo seleccionadas las tiendas que más me gustan, siempre voy a las mismas a revolver y revolver hasta encontrar justo lo que busco, o sorprenderme con algo nuevo, inesperado. Y luego me la paso días mirando lo que compré e imaginándome cómo combinarlas, qué botones necesitan, qué color de cierre o cinta.. es un proceso bastante artesanal y me encanta! lo disfruto mucho.
Otra cosa que me gusta mucho y es bastante nueva, es la posibilidad de hacer creaciones conjuntas con colegas que admiro. Es muy divertido, aprendo cosas nuevas y la paso muy bien.

5. La verdad es que no tengo artistas o diseñadores favoritos, o tengo demasiados!. Van cambiando, algunos conocidos otros anónimos. Admiro en general la sensibilidad sutil, la posibilidad que tienen algunos de decir con poco, con lo justo. Cuando la emoción surge de una combinación acertada o simplemente del material que se usa o cómo se lo usa.

6. (links above)

7. Espero que Nido se siga expandiendo, incorporando nuevas creaciones, nuevas alianzas y colaboraciones en mi país y en el mundo! Me gusta mucho hacer lo que hago y espero poder seguir haciéndolo y seguir creciendo.

I would love to introduce you to one of our newest designers, and all around wonderful woman, Argentinean artist Mercedes Hernaez! Mercedes is an extremely talented graphic designer who creates beautiful maps for the city of Buenos Aires and also creates beautiful notebooks under her own label, Mono-Blocks. Mercedes is one of the few designers I work with that I have had the pleasure of meeting in person on her recent trip to San Francisco. It was no surprise that she was as lovely as she is talented. I hope you enjoy learning more about a woman we are proud to work with!

*note to Mercedes: por favor, disculpame por esta traduccion no tan buena de tus palabras tan ermosas! :)

LAMA: Where do you live and what is your favorite part about living there?

Mercedes: Buenos Aires which is a super culturally active city. It is a place of curious and restless people. Palermo is where I work. It is an interesting and changing community. Sometimes I love it and other times it makes me suffer. I love Buenos Aires in November because the Jacarandas are in bloom and los tilos in December. I also love the bakeries. I live in a community full of olive trees. Near the city there are tons of olive trees and English houses. Our home is very humble, green, fresh and modern.

LAMA: Tell us about your business and how you got started.

Mercedes: I am a graphic designer with a studio in Old Palermo. It is a small showroom space in the back of a building where I create the maps of Buenos Aires. These are distributed free to several communities in B. A. Currently, we are also working on maps of Palermo and San Telmo. For the past few years, these communities have helped young artists and designers show their projects along side of the larger commercial businesses. This is how I started my work. I had the desire to tell others what happens in our communities and to participate in larger projects. I like to draw and think with a pencil and a piece of paper. Through the years of my life, I have collected a lot of notebooks that I find throughout my travels. One day I discovered a factory of left-over vintage papers. Some of them were so beautiful. With that, (and a love for notebooks), we put together our first collection for Mono-Blocks.

LAMA: Who are some of your favorite artists and designers?

Mercedes: Guillermina and her embroidery groups, Lola Goldstein, Guillermo Ueno, Marina Bandin of Maminas, clothing and textiles from Mina Perhonen (japan), Kiriko Nananan, Keiko Minami, Sejima, Hayao Miyazaki, Wong Kar Wai, Hiroshigue, Francesco Clemente, Calder, the drawings of Edward Gorey, Tibor and Maira Kalman, Argentinean designers like Mariana Cortés of Juana De Arco, and Veronica Longoni of Sopa de Principe.

LAMA: What do you find most inspirational?

Mercedes: Nature, spring, orchards, gardens, books, textiles, Japan, Holland, traveling, artist’s blogs and illustrations from different places (many Argentinean). Currently I am in love with many artists and illustrators from Nordic countries as well as Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Nepal and their textile cultures.

LAMA: Where do you see your work going in the next 5 years?

Mercedes: We have grown a lot and we love where we work. We do everything from here (our studio)… from designing to producing to distributing. We are a very harmonious group. I work with Paula, Manuela and Hansel, and group of art students and photographers that add to the energy, talent, and look of our projects we produce in this studio. I hope to continue on with more of the same.

LAMA: When you’re not hard at work in your studio, how do you spend your free time?

Mercedes: I enjoy embroidering, drawing, reading amongst the plants in my garden, cooking, and making jams and cakes. In the Spring, I enjoy riding my bike around my neighborhood with my children. In the winter, I like spending my time at home.

Thank you so much Mercedes for giving us a little peek into your life as an artist in Argentina! To check out Mercedes beautiful work at the LAMA shop, click here, here and here.

Just released on the LAMA site today is the beautiful work of Buenos Aires based designer Pablo Ferraro. Pablo is the creator and owner of KOM, a fantastic company dedicated to creating environmentally friendly products with local manufacturers. KOM specializes in designing children’s clothing, homeware and accessories and has collaborated in the past with two of our favorite LAMA designers, Irana Douer and Sopa de Principe! It has been a pleasure to work with Pablo on bringing some of his fantastic products to the US for the very first time and we can’t wait to make more of his products available in the upcoming months. Recently I asked Pablo a few questions about his work. Below is what he had to say about his design process, his love of color and his future with KOM. Enjoy!

Designer Pablo Ferraro

LAMA: Can you tell me about your design process? I absolutely love your prints and your color selection! Do you design the patterns yourself?

Pablo: When it comes to the prints and KOMs design process: yes, I design the prints and chose the colours myself. I think that colour selection is probably the one thing I enjoy the most. Of course I love prints, but when I find myself with all the different pantone options, with tiny papercuts from magazines and thinking about how to match and combine colours I have a really great time.

A collection of original prints by Pablo

LAMA: I understand you are very dedicated to creating environmentally friendly products. Can you tell us about this?

Pablo: KOM uses 100% cotton that has not been treated with bleaches or chemicals that negatively effect the environment. All of our prints are done by hand to ensure the quality of our colors and the softness of our fabrics. At KOM, we choose to work with local manufacturers because we believe maintaining a close relationship with the different processes of production guarantees the commitment towards our project.

Fiesta Flags (Pink and Purple)

Fiesta Flags (Green and Blue)

Fiesta Flags at LAMA

LAMA: What are you working on now?

Pablo: Now i am working on my website (which hopefully will be up and running within a month). There you will be able to see some side projects I have with architects and people who work in decoration and home furnishing. The great thing about those projects is that basically you do everything custom made for a specific client and user, which makes it very very special, and you can play around with the colours you choose depending on the room, the piece of furniture, etc.

A peek inside Pablo’s studio

Thanks so much Pablo! We can’t wait to see what you do in the future! To check out Pablo’s products at LAMA, click here and here.