“It’s so much more fun than making clothes”

Galicia seems to have become the new quarry of design national, at the mercy of renowned designers -Kina Fernández, Purificación García, Roberto Verino, Antonio Pernas and José Castro among others- and of the large fashion companies of our country that extend their domains from Galician lands to the world, with Inditex and Adolfo Domínguez at the head. Also from Galician lands is the new revelation designer, Abdomen Juncal (Pontevedra, 1997), whose CV shows that he has already worked on the men’s line of the latter company and is currently designing for Zara Home.

His latest conquest includes another of the largest companies in our country, Multiópticas, for whom he has created the capsule collection ‘Mó x Sabela Juncal’, composed of six models of sunglasses and four frames for prescription lenses, an initiative that was born after winning the ‘Mo x New Talent’ contest, which the company organizes to promote young talents in design and fashion in collaboration with Allianz Ego and within the framework of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid.

Would you have gotten this far if you had been born and developed your career in another place, far from Galicia“I have no idea,” he answers, laughing, acknowledging that right now his land is the cradle of good designers“If my collection focused more on nostalgia and nature or folklore, I would have a clearer answer. In any case, I do believe that the place where you are born determines what you do, because it influences how you are, your character and your way of being. Right now we have many schools and companies here modathere are places to work. And that is super important. Being close to Portugal It also helps, because it is a good engine for this industry in terms of fabrics and factory waste. All that Galicia offers right now is quite interesting, but for me the land is not a source of income. inspiration“.

As a good Galician, Sabela speaks slowly, with a warm and marked accent, and despite her brilliant trajectory He brags little. “It’s not about muses nor inspiration, it is a question of work and many hours, even in the office, almost like anyone who dedicates themselves to something else,” she tells me. It is not difficult to imagine her concentrating on her sketches on his work table.

For her, dedicating herself to fashion was never a plan B, she always knew she wanted to be a designer, since she started sew the dresses for her dolls, “like pure fun“, being a child. In her house she lived between needlesthreads and thimbles. “My grandmother is a seamstress, but I never really sat down with her to learn the job or do anything; everyone just sewed at home, so for me it was quite natural, I always got along well,” she recalls. It was later, when she had “a clear path”, that she decided to “get into it, in a very autodidact“. And although the path was well marked, Sabela began to follow it unexpectedly. “In this world, private schools rule, and it is difficult to access them. So I decided to study Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Vigo, but without losing sight of my goal; I thought that I could at least do something related to fashion communication.” Finally, I decided on the Master in Design and Creative Direction in Fashion from the same university. From there came his first professional contacts and the complete change.

Innovative design and artisanal craftsmanship

Sabela’s hallmarks could be seen in the last edition of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid, where the designer presented her collection ‘Condominio’, a work that represented on the catwalk the process of building a home and that was translated into men’s clothing. volumes marked that could well fill a woman’s wardrobe. “Men’s and women’s fashion are not so different. Beyond the pattern making“I don’t think there should be a specific inspiration, shapes or colour palette to focus on one audience or another,” he says.

Coats, hats, dresses and, above all, shirtsthe garment that he likes to design the most. “In that job I experimented a lot from the shirt, it was the first garment that I made and from which the others emerged, and around which the rest of things revolve. I don’t know if it’s my garment favorite“But if I had to choose one, it would definitely be that one,” he confesses without hesitation.

Nor does it do so by pointing out the other axis of his work, the sustainability. Sabela works in a completely artisanal way, with natural fibers, local materials and even rescued fabrics from the family chests. With them, some old sheets, she made ‘Condominium‘, the collection that opened the doors to her collaboration with Mó. “I found them in a great-aunt’s closet, when they were dismantling her house. They were forgotten rolls of fabric cottonvery rigid, something quite typical in Galician houses. It was the starting point for everything,” he explains.

Glasses with their own name

It was also the origin of his new collection of glasses, models with their own name that represent iconic objects of the designer’s home and family moments. “When designing them, my initial idea was that they would respond to a completely new concept openunisex, although it is possible that more women buy them than men,” says Sabela, admitting that she is excited to see them on the street and in stores. “It is a product especial“, for daily use, which lasts much longer than clothing. And the fact that they are backed by a brand like Multiópticas makes it possible for them to reach many people very quickly. I love that.”

And what inspires a designer to design glasses? At first glance it seems that there is little room and that almost everything has already been invented, or not? I ask him. “The fashion collection that I presented at Fashion Week revolved around the homeand I decided that the proposal for Mó would follow the same path and would speak of the concept that I have of home and the things that compose it. So I began to look at the objects in the industrial design, the lamps, the chairs… From there the frames emerge, their stroke is similar to that described by the sillait starts at one point, ends at another and leaves hollow parts that simulate the emptiness where the seat is,” he explains.

In his collection, which is completed with cases in the shape of a cylindrical cushion and chamois decorated with the sketches that served as inspiration, Sabela transforms the curved legs of the iconic chairs of 20th century furniture, specifically those made of tubular steel designed by Marcel Breuer, Alvar Aalto, Mies van der Rohe o Lilly Reich. “It’s something completely different from what I’ve done before and much more fun, from that point of view,” explains the designer. “Also, I had complete freedom, and that was also wonderful. In the end, the most difficult thing was to reduce all the sketches to just ten designs. For that we took into account, for example, which were the most interesting.” flattering“.

Sabela Juncal is having a good moment, sweet as her accent. So much so that she hesitates when I ask her what she would like the next few years to bring. “I don’t know… maybe doing what I like, which is what I do now, but in a more quietcalmly”. And since we’re asking, to have his own workshop, “a place where he can work calmly”. artisan and manual.” She finds it difficult to think about the future: “Now my only way is to keep working and be open to whatever may arise,” she concludes.