Member of the month - Mundo Flo - In my studio

by Adriana Oliveira aka Mundo Flo

Mundo Flo takes form in a small room of my house, but thankfully big enough to store all materials and tools I need, and lots of things that inspire me. I love the fact that it has a big window with sunlight in the morning, which is my favorite period for working. It is full of white furniture from Ikea, and some vintage wooden boxes and handmade details for a personal touch. There are a couple of plants and lots of natural objects I collect from special places, like the beach, the forest, city gardens and distant countries. There are two tables, one for the sewing machine, and another for my laptop and for painting on fabric. I like to work on a clutter free surface, but then I tend to make everything else around a big mess. Fortunately, I can just close the door when I leave, and forget about it in a minute. I invite you for a little tour inside my world :)

I'm always moving the tables around and changing the display of things, I like to have the freedom of doing whatever I want, because this is my creative lab, and it makes sense that it changes according to my mood.

My work includes lots of different techniques from sewing, embroidering, knitting or crochet, painting and photography. This way, I'm always learning new things and never get tired of it. The main materials I work with are fabrics, sewing and embroidering threads and paints. I store them inside shelves and small containers, to keep a clean sight.

I put my ideas on sketchbooks before designing a new collection, and I like to come back to them once in a while to pick some more inspiration, or to have an overview of my work. I use everything from magazine scraps, photos, drawings, fabric or wool, and lots of notes around them.

Besides materials and books, there are boxes and other packaging stuff I try to reuse whenever I can, for ecological and economic reasons. Then I add them some stamping or drawing and make them as new and beautiful again :)

I have an inspiration wall, which I change from time to time. Now it's full of Autumn leaves I brought from Sintra.

I also have some illustrations from artists I admire, magazines, craft and botany books. And there's always music playing!

I have two precious helpers. Mr. Mundo Flo, who gives me all the support I need and helps in in several tasks (like consulting, quality control, cutting fabrics, going to the post office and shopping for materials), and another (sometimes not so much) helper and daily company, Elffie the cat, who loves to sneak on everything and sometimes to make a mess, but also loves his little card box and blanket, so he often falls asleep next to me and lets me work.

Hope you enjoyed the visit!

Text and photos by Adriana Oliveira aka Mundo Flo