Blanca Deblas

As the day eases to night in New Zealand, the bright sun rises in the coastal city of Malaga, Spain, where illustrator, designer and artist Blanca Deblas has her studio.

Based on Spain’s Costa Del Sol, Blanca makes her living by creating handcrafted works of art. This year, we commissioned her to create a bespoke collection of illustrations for our limited edition range of Christmas products, each with their own custom packaging.

Working across watercolour, pencil and even flower-pressing, Blanca expresses herself in a range of media. “I love to explore old and contemporary techniques, making tests, getting different results… I am always experimenting and trying to align them to my own concept”.

It’s in our nature to find perfection in simplicty. We were immediately taken by Blanca’s subtle, shapely forms – beautifully crafted by hand.

Blanca used the scent of each product to inspire a colour palette. This palette was then applied to a range of abstract, floral shapes (which were inturn inspired by New Zealand’s rare flora and fauna). “One curiosity - I started to make the first sketches in a digital format but I didn't get the results I expected, so I decided to do them in real watercolour and then the magic was done”.