Image: Capitola Carryall Tote
THE STORY
Each season, we release new patterns that are inspired by our travel adventures in places far flung to towns in our backyard. Having been through the creative processes for years now, it still never ceases to amaze me how/where inspiration might strike, and eventually translate its abstraction into our signature patterns. Take Capitola, for instance. This cheery pattern was born 3 years ago, when we visited this namesake city in California for our photoshoot. At that time, I was focused solely on producing our best shoot yet, and had no way of knowing my mind was also quietly collecting inspiration for our Spring collection years later. Funny how that works…
Image: Capitola Early Sketches
OUR DESIGN PROCESS
This never gets old for me. Collecting inspiration, hand-sketching, cutting, gluing, painting… the process is quite unstructured, carefree and loose. I look back to old photos of our last trip there, and thinking of the sights and sounds of places often help me to set the stage for creation. Every place has a certain spirit to it; whether it’s the architecture, the views, the people… and one of my favorite things to do when visiting a new place is to just sit and observe. Sometimes that observation turns into writing, sometimes into sketches, or paintings.
Image via Unsplash: Pebbles on Capitola
I don’t edit myself at this early stage, instead I just play. Until shapes and colors start to speak to me. I like to put up my pages and pages of mark-making on our studio walls as I create. I cut sketches apart, and piece elements together, almost like a jigsaw puzzle. This part of the process is usually rather messy (hence the need for me to work in the studio instead of at home.) It can be laborious, but I enjoy it thoroughly. The times I’ve tried to rush through it, I’ve always ended up feeling less than satisfied with the final outcome.
Image: Capitola Colors
Once I have the beginnings of my composition, I start playing with colors. Knowing this is to be a part of our Spring collection, I again turn to the bright colors of Capitola to draw inspiration from. It’s a fine balance between selecting a color that is too specific to the location and one that is pleasing and goes well with our brand palette, trends and suit our customers. After all, the application of the pattern will be on functional, everyday goods.
We hope Capitola is a nice welcome for Spring for you. Stay tuned for more inspiration tidbits from our collection in the coming weeks!
Image: Capitola Colors
Veronika
January 16, 2020
Love this new pattern! I visited Capitola in 2015, and it was such a beautiful little town. I couldn’t stop looking at the colorful hotel buildings on the shore. We were just there for the afternoon, but I haven’t forgotten it. I’ll have to get something with this print!