Sew and play
“Las “musarañas” están hechas con grandes botones, cremalleras de colores, fieltro, tul, telas y con dos ingredientes especiales: esponjas laminadas y vinilo transparente. Están pensadas para grandes y pequeños, para gente divertida, colorista y soñadora. Gente atrevida en cuanto a formas y texturas.” Sara Moreno creates pizzas to wear in the chest and shrews and sardines that adorn our heads. She plays with fabrics and shapes to form small rooms where the pulse of the imagination is always on a stable growth. No warning, she surprises. Beyond the tastes, her invitation is to permanently play, to freedom.
Shrews, sardines, bats ... animals are the way you give life to your designs?
Yes, they are "guilty." Animals and Nature in general they have always given me so much, they have been part of my life in many ways, I have shared my life with them and they shared theirs with me.
Nature is amazing. It teaches you a lot of things and in return, it asks nothing but respect (word, apparently, the human don’t use to understand).
So I think they are a source of infinite inspiration. The colors, textures and shapes are endless and amazing.
Nature is amazing. It teaches you a lot of things and in return, it asks nothing but respect (word, apparently, the human don’t use to understand).
So I think they are a source of infinite inspiration. The colors, textures and shapes are endless and amazing.
What leads you to show your creativity?
It’s my need to express my feelings, tastes and inclinations. We all have certain priorities that take precedence before others.
I cannot sit still. I need freedom to shape everything that goes through my head.
I think as a child I've tried to express myself through drawing and handicrafts, or “art & craft” as it’s known right now hahahaha.
I cannot sit still. I need freedom to shape everything that goes through my head.
I think as a child I've tried to express myself through drawing and handicrafts, or “art & craft” as it’s known right now hahahaha.
Your way of playing with materials and colors easily leads us to childhood. What is your relationship with this life period?
Childhood is a very important period in the life of any person. It is at this stage that "absorbs" the most important things, the essence of what will be done as an adult. For me it was very important. Being surrounded by people and animals that were very influential and beneficial to my emotional development, it was molding and shaping who I am today: my way of being and thinking. So what we do is thought for children and adults, because I try to use the same formula for all ages. It’s for children because they are spontaneous, expressive, no sense of ridiculous. And for those adults who still retain the essence of the child over time. These are adults that I like. Those who dare to know and enjoy the new and different things. They don’t cease to amaze me with the little things (the most important ones).
I can imagine you with a new material and immediately start playing with it mentally. What role does play in your life?
To play is essential in the intellectual and social development of anyone. It is clear that I love the idea of meeting new materials and experience playing with them. Basically what I do is get a mental picture of what it would be this garment in question and which material would be the best for getting an end result the closest as possible to that initial image. So I always think of new materials for me, although not used often in fashion. I love materials which are highly malleable and always bring new textures in my creations. Fabrics and colors that are best suited to reflect these ideas I have in my head.
While your background includes graphic design and textile design works, do you have other expressive inclinations?
My training is as a graphic designer. My background in textile design is completely self-taught. Design, Art and Fashion in general, I'm interested in all fields. I try to be always learning new things in Design, Photography, Crafts, etc. So you could say that my work is a mixture of all these disciplines. The field of design is very versatile.
Do you have any preference in materials?
I feel attracted to materials that have a smooth texture, fluffy, you feel drawn to touch them. Volume fabrics, bright, malleable materials which give the garment or complement the effect of being that to which they imitate. For example, the use of sequins on the T-shirt and headdress "Sardinas de San Juan", in which sardines look real, the malleability of polyurethane foam in the diadems "Merenguitos" and "Helados” where the result seems so real you feel like eating them, and so on.
Could you relate your favorite material with a wish?
Yes, freedom.
Is it difficult to break into this world?
Right now it is difficult to break into any field, but everything related to art is even more complicated.
It takes lots of patience, perseverance and desire to fight for what you believe. All of the "handmade" is very laborious, but when you see the face of surprise when people discover something different, you realize that all this work has been worthwhile.
It takes lots of patience, perseverance and desire to fight for what you believe. All of the "handmade" is very laborious, but when you see the face of surprise when people discover something different, you realize that all this work has been worthwhile.
What is your Muse?
Obviously it’s Nature.
In Musaraña’s heaven, what fabric you would like to get to knit?
A "cloth" molded to any shape. That was changing (like Nature itself), but that last over time.
And if we close our eyes we see a spider web as a shelter for creative freedom.
Text by Juan Carlos Romero
Photo by Musaraña