“People have to be adventurous, happy, quirky and have positive energy”,Elena Montes Casado
Noblivity Spotlights Emerging Designers Elena Montes Casado & Rob Ryan
Company/Designer Name: LadyUmbrella/ Elena Montes Casado
Designer Background Summary:
I am Elena and I come from Madrid in Spain. I’ve always liked to design things and have been interested in art for as long as I can remember. I like to continually create art from photographs to teapots and installations to paintings.
How did you get started?
It all started with photography. My first camera was a 2ndhand reflex camera which I liked using and then I started to work in a photolab and eventually got my own dark room. After that like everyone I progressed to a digital camera and from there I started to experiment with photoshop and illustrator. Once I came up with the LadyUmbrella idea it was a natural progression to apply the designs to t-shirts.
What inspires your designs?
LadyUmbrella came to be when I arrived in Dublin, Ireland a few years ago from Madrid. There is so much rain in this country it is unbelievable. Anyway, I saw lots of umbrellas on the streets covering people’s faces and thought that a lady with an umbrella for a head could make for an interesting character and brand idea. Most of my designs feature LadyUmbrella and are inspired by, well, I don’t know, life and living I guess..
How would you describe your design style, design signatures and who is your targeted customer?
The designs at the minute are simple and single coloured with pure lines. I like to use shadows to add mystery to the designs as you don’t know if LadyUmbrella is in a room or outside. LadyUmbrella is in her own surreal magic world where anything can happen, even light bulbs dangling from the sky or LadyUmbrella standing on a small iceberg after traveling in her paper boat. The target customer is pretty much anybody who likes the designs. I don’t think there is a certain age group for a LadyUmbrella customer but a particular mindset – people have to be adventurous, happy, quirky and have positive energy.
What designers inspire you?
I studied history of art so I am influenced by that. I lived in Barcelona when doing my masters and the city is rich with design. Every street has something interesting and inspiring to offer, all of the restaurants there pay attention to small details of their design and layout and so I can’t reference any particular fashion designer. Just by living in and observing places like Barcelona and Madrid I have found lots of inspiration for designs. During my masters I studied Giorgio de Chirico who was an Italian painter from the Futurist movement who inspired me to include empty spaces in my designs and to create an air of mystery. Julio Cortazar is an Argentinean writer who wrote Cronopios and Famas which inspired me for the unusual surroundings and scenarios that I could use place LadyUmbrella in.
What obstacles did you have to overcome?
For me it is easy to start designing but I find it very hard to say that a design is finished. By saying something is finished it then gives people the chance to criticize it and so because I am shy I get nervous about what people are going to say about a design.
How did you overcome them?
I had to. And Rob (the other part of the LadyUmbrella team) told me to otherwise we would never be able to get our ladies clothes created. I’m still trying to fully overcome it though, so far so good.
What has been your greatest moment on your journey so far?
The greatest moment for me was seeing my designs on our t-shirts. Not the first time though. The first time I saw them I really didn’t like the t-shirts we were using and the designs didn’t look as I imagined they would so I had to redesign them completely. The journey to get to here has taken about 18 months and when we started all of our designs were to be printed on white t-shirts – needless to say that didn’t happen. The 2nd time seeing the next version of our t-shirts as they evolved wasn’t as harrowing as the first time but still didn’t provide the elation I was hoping for. This time around I was happy with the print but the style of the t-shirt needed to be modified. 3rd time round was the lucky one though and provided me with the greatest moment of the journey so far. I am really happy and proud of how our t-shirts have turned out.
What has been the biggest change in your designs so far?
As I said earlier the first designs were all white which has been changed for all colour. Also, during the design phase I added more details and spaced the elements out differently to try use more of the “canvas” of the t-shirt. For example, in LadyUmbrella is Away with the Birds the clouds and cages were added after the initial design.
If money were no object what would you do right now?
Design more t-shirts with lots of different shapes and styles and investigate a lot more about fabrics and give LadyUmbrella a broad appeal, not just t-shirts but all types of clothing. In time LadyUmbrella will design all types of clothing (and more) but for now I have to build it up – if money were no object that is what I would right now though.
What are the best and worst things about being a designer?
There is always something new to learn or something new to see. I also like how the brain reacts to new ideas and how new designs form and evolve. The worst thing is when those ideas don’t arrive and my mind is completely blank.
Describe your typical day?
I don’t really have typical days. I spend a few hours working on new designs most days. I also have to take care of all the other design work for LadyUmbrella which eats into my time to design fresh designs. Rob always wants me to make new videos or edit this picture or that picture for him as we are trying to get the word out. I also have to spend time most days in packing and getting orders ready for shipment – such an enjoyable chore…So, there are no typical days really but if I’m working I’m on my mac, that is the only thing that is constant.
What’s your philosophy of life?
I really don’t know. There are so many good philosophies out there that mine will pale in comparison to them but one thing we always say at LadyUmbrella is “Stay Happy” and I think it is a nice way to try live one’s life. All the clichés of “life is too short”, “you only go around this crazy merry go round once” and “don’t take things for granted” are all pretty much true so why not stay happy?
If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?
Not a lot really. I think I am where I am now and LadyUmbrella is where it is now because of what we have learnt in the past. All of the mistakes we made have helped us to learn and to get to where we are now.
When will you know you have made it?
I don’t know yet but I hope when the time comes it’ll be obvious hehe.
