Noni Barea

She has al­ways loved nee­dles, fab­ric and scis­sors, and after years work­ing in a com­pany mak­ing swim­suits she de­cided to set up her own brand: NOBALE, pro­duc­ing com­fort­able, qual­ity cloth­ing she de­signs her­self for moth­ers and chil­dren in her work­shop in Olot.

1. Note­book and pen: to write down or sketch ideas that come to mind.

2. A photo of her son as a baby: in­spi­ra­tion at any time of the day.

3. Fab­rics with polka dots: I have al­ways used fab­rics printed with moons, cir­cles and I love colours. I adore polka dots!

4. A ce­ramic mug: from a stu­dio right next door, in a for­mer fac­tory, made by pot­ter Ivet Bazaco, to­tally km0.

5. An apple: I start the work­ing day at 6am so by mid-morn­ing I need a pick-me-up, fruit, usu­ally an apple, and the red­der the bet­ter!

6. Books for in­spi­ra­tion: be­yond the dig­i­tal world books are still one of the best sources of in­spi­ra­tion for any de­signer, es­pe­cially books with col­lec­tions of prints, pat­terns and Japan­ese de­signs.

7. Tai­lor's chalk: the first step in mark­ing the pat­tern on the fab­ric is so im­por­tant for what it will even­tu­ally be­come, a unique piece.

8. Chalk sharp­ener: this one is also spe­cial be­cause it is a his­tor­i­cal piece that I have had with me since I began de­sign­ing at home. In­dis­pens­able in every­day work.

9. Washi Tape: these are ad­he­sive coloured tapes with fan­tas­tic il­lus­tra­tions. I give the cus­tomer their pur­chase in a paper bag and closed with Washi Tape; it is a touch of colour that char­ac­terises Nobale and my work.

10. Rulers and tapes: es­sen­tial to the work of any de­signer

11. Craft Paper: used to make pat­terns, the ma­te­r­ial is drawn and cut to make the same pieces and also to size.

12. Weights: to hold down the pat­terns as I mark out the lines with the chalk.

13. Pin cush­ions: the years roll by and they are al­ways in­dis­pens­able.

14.​Scissors: to first cut the paper pat­tern and then the fab­ric, as you begin to give life to the clothes that will be the final prod­uct.

15. Sewing threads: my life­lines; I have hun­dreds of colours.

16. Flow­ers: they al­ways bring hap­pi­ness; I love hav­ing them in the work­shop

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