Inspiring women — Verónica de Arriba and the feminine elegant universe of Depeapa
When we think about a small creative brand with a soul Depeapa is one of the first options that comes to our mind.
Verónica's brand is simply delicious: a true picture of her inspiring universe, minimal yet full of color and influenced by women.
Let's meet Verónica!
Ahoy Verónica! Welcome to our journal, we are very happy having you here chatting with us! Could you tell us a bit about yourself? Where are you from, where are you based, what do you do…?
Ahoy! I was born and raised in Barakaldo, in northern Spain, an industrial and quite grey town during the 80's. Since I was a kid I was interested in art, maybe to add a bit of color to the atmosphere. I spent hours drawing and creating, then I studied Fine Arts in the Basque Country and as soon as I finished it I moved south, to Granada, the city I still live in and love.
I'm an illustrator, designer and founder of Depeapa, a brand where I create many different products. It's difficult to define myself as just one thing because in order to manage my brand I have to know a little bit of everyting.
We’ve been following -and admiring- your creations for years now, in fact, we believe we started our projects more or less at the same time. Have you ever imagined you’d be working as an artist/creator?
Thank you so much! Admiration is mutual. I've never imagined I'd be working as an artist, I thought I would work as a graphic designer because that was the option that had more career opportunities.
I worked as a graphic designer for a couple of years but I was missing something and I had too much time in front of a computer so I started drawing and creating brooches and dolls on my free time. That gradually started to be professional and I decided to turn it into my full time job.
When I studied Fine Arts I tried a bit of all disciplines and I never specialized in anything in particular. I believed then that such less of focus would be a mistake but It became a wise choice. Now with Depeapa I work with ceramics, I paint, I design my packaging, textiles...
Your designs have something special that makes them irresistible, it doesn’t matter if it’s ceramics, textile, jewelry… What’s your favorite discipline and why?
It always depends on the stage I'm in. During the first years working on my project I enjoyed designing products, imagining collections and presenting them: from concept to photography art direction, packaging...
Now I enjoy just painting, not thinking in any format in particular. Also, these days I'm working on the process of a jewelry collection.
Women are usually your main subject, why is that? Who are your favorite female artists and how do you think they are reflected on your art?
I don't really know why but when I was a kid I only painted girls. I keep some of my childhood drawings and they have always the same subject.
I've always been united to the women in my family: my mum and my two sisters. All three of us shared a room and I always learned a lot listening to their adult conversations. Maybe living in such a feminine envirionment both at home and in school (which was girls only) has influenced my work.
What I really like drawing is glance expressions and playing with geometries and patterns on their clothes.
I find very inspiring lots of women artists, for example Sonia Delaunay, Hilma Af Klint, Frida Khalo, Alice Neel, Vanessa Bell... and some comtemporary ones like Carla Fuentes, Hilda Palafox and Bbbings, among others.
We believe Depeapa and Don Fisher have lots of things in common. What do you like the most of our marine universe?
I remember your first time at Festivalet and how I fell in love with everyting. I loved your fish shop, the concept, the brand image, the story behing the captain... I believe Don Fisher is a perfect brand with perfect products. Plus, taking pictures with my Bonitos made me realize how cool they look beside my paintings ;)
Thank you for joining us today, Verónica! We loved getting to know you a bit more!
Do follow Depeapa on Instagram and don't forget to visit her shop!
