Ruben Galarreta is a high-end streetwear fashion brand, a mix of modern luxury with creative urban prints.
What are some moments in your life that defined who you are today as a person & designer?
I love my country, Spain but at the same time I think the best thing I could do
was leave and discover a new place. You don’t get to know what life and other cultures are about sitting on your sofa. Inspiration comes by moving, not staying in the same comfortable place all the time – at least that’s how I see
it. Travelling is a great key to enrich my personal life and my design work too. It gives me a bigger concept, a wider picture of the world and fashion.
We see a lot of Indian inspiration in your latest collection. How did you end up in India? Have you received any feedback of your line from those of Indian descent?
My move to India was completely unexpected. I was finishing my studies at the univesity when an Indian designer offered me an intership in New Delhi. I immediately fell in love with India - the people here, colours, busy Delhi life and I decided to stay. As for the reaction of Indians towards my work? In Europe, our collections stand out a lot because we use bright colours and bold prints which seem to be forbidden or forgotten in the West. Here, people are used to such contrasts but what they like the best is our reinterpretation of traditional Indian clothes in a sporty, underground style like the transparent Kurta for example. It’s something new here and people love it!
Do you see yourself venturing outside of men's & women's clothing?
Yes, definetely we would love to do accessories. In the latest show we
created masks and bondage pieces, we got a very good feedback from our followers and stylist. It’s the next step - at the moment we are focusing on introducing new techniques in our clothing line like embroidery, laser cutting and keep the accessories line for next year.
The bold prints on your pieces are amazing! What is your process for coming up with them?
Prints are the most challenging part of our design process. We start with an
inspiration - it can be anything, something I see in the street or on a market. Then I usually spend a few sleepless nights sketching, developping ideas for placement and printing. It can take several weeks for a print to be ready but I like each step of it. In the end it’s just so exciting to see it on a garment.