Pirouette 10 questions game:

Q&A between 2 players – 5 questions & 5 answers each. Both players are interviewer and interviewee. This time with Laia Aguilar (L) Designer/Co-Founder, The Animals Observatory invites Charlotte Huguet (H), Stylist/Editor, ELLE France to ask her 5 questions then answer 5 of her own. Let’s go!

GO!

Laia asks, Charlotte answers…

L: From a professional point of view, what is it about children’s fashion that attracts you?
C: 
I like the imaginary and the creativity of the children’s universe, I think it’s the richest of all. There is no limit in it, you can authorize yourself everything. It is so interesting to work with children, they don’t care about conventions or the way the should act, which is giving them so much liberty!

L: Choose a painting, a book and a film, and explain briefly what you like about them.
C:
Painting: Rothko – for the way he plays with colors, which is easily understandable for everybody. It is very easy to reach and to appreciate for kids.

Book: “Where the wild things are” – I was reading it when I was a child, and my kids loved it when I made them discover it. At home we have the books in different languages, the DVD of the movie and posters of the main characters!

Movie: ” The Goonies” My husband and I thought that the kids would be afraid by watching the movie, but they really loved it! The rhythm of the story is perfect. It’s a tale where the heroes are kids, they allow other children to feel indestructible.

L: Sum up your philosophy of life in one sentence. 
C: Nothing is a big deal, and every problem has a solution!

L: If you were President of the French Republic, what is the first thing about your country that you would like to change? 
C: I will make yoga classes mandatory in primary school, and a Montessori training course to every teacher.

L: What do you imagine your life will be like 20 years from now?
C: I would like to live on the border of the sea, with the sun, and travel half of my time through the world.

SWAP!

Charlotte asks, Laia answers…

C: How did you start your children’s brand? 
L: First of all I founded and directed Bobo Choses for eight years. Then I set up The Animals Observatory with Jan Andreu. Together with motherhood it has been the greatest adventure of my life.

C: How do you start to invent a collection?
L: I start by collecting a thousand pieces of reference material – a movie scene, an old photo, the design of a sofa – and I blend them all together in my imagination. When I open my design notebook, the first thing I establish is the range of colours, and then I start to draw patterns, draw illustrations… Little by little, everything in the notebook starts to come together in a very organic way. It’s an exciting, solitary and very soothing process.

C:If  you were an animal, what would it be? 
L: A cat, no question. I really like cats. That mixture of affection and independence. I think I’m a bit like that too. But I don’t scratch, although there are some who think I do, hahaha.

C: Do you have a childhood memory which is guiding you to educate your children? What is it?
L: I still have a strong sense of the way I was when I was a girl. The memory of my childhood is always with me. And that helps me a lot on a day-to-day basis when it comes to understanding my children, especially with my youngest daughter, Adriana, who is just like me in terms of character. It’s very funny, because, in my house, my son Pablo is the same as my husband – funny, passionate and a great reader – and my daughter is just like me – a perfectionist, scatter-brained and vivacious.

C: According to you, what is the most essential thing children need to face the adult world? 
L: For me, the key thing that I say to my children about becoming adults is that they need to accept their contradictions. Because contradictions, although they sometimes make things difficult for us, also help us grow. This is perhaps the most difficult thing for a child: to realise, as Rimbaud said, that you can sometimes be someone else (je est un autre).

The End/Fin

Laia Aguilar
Follow Laia  @laiaaguilar & The Animals Observatory @theanimalsobservatory 
https://www.theanimalsobservatory.com

Charlotte Huguet
Follow Charlotte @charlottehuguet
http://www.elle.fr 

 

Previous Pirouette Q&A players

Petra Barkhof, of Scimparello/Kid’s wear magazine & Adele Gandola, distributor Pero
Tze Ching Yeung of Jake & Maya & Rie Helen Miyaoka of FäFä
Molly Magnuson, kids fashion photographer & Chloe Leor, child model
Florence Rolando, Pirouette founder & Katie Kendrick, Editor in Chief Pirouette 

Previous Pirouette Interview: Click here to read more. 

Interview Laia Aguilar – Founder & Creative Director of The Animals Observatory

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