Meet the designers
Julia & Lorena – Don Fisher
People behind the nautically-themed homewares brand @don_fisher
Interview with Julia and Lorena – Don Fisher
Don Fisher loves sailing the seven seas in search of nice things. 🎣 If you are reading this, you probably love searching for nice things too! Your are probably a see lover too 🌊
Here you can find out more about Don Fisher and the cute Bonitos they produce. These Bonitos – beautiful in Spanish – are purses, pencil-cases, key-holders in the shape of a fish or marine wildlife hand made with the highest quality materials and are fresh and ready to use. Also, their inside is fleshy and full of fishbones, completely irresistible. We had a chat with Julia, the founder, and Lorena! Read up 💬👇
Hi Julia & Lorena, thanks for being here! Please introduce yourself to the TA-DAAN Community and tell us something about Don Fisher. How did you get into craftsmanship?
Hi girls! So happy to chat with you. We are Julia & Lorena from Don Fisher, an accessories brand based in Barcelona, Spain. Our whole universe is focused on the oceans, our brand name is the name of the captain that sails the seven seas looking for the most amazing creatures and each collection is inspired by one sea, ocean or river and their local fauna.
We got into craftmanship by chance when Julia, that was working as a graphic designer back then, thought she had to change her life. She enjoyed all things beautiful so she thought about creating an online shop selling the most beautiful products but this was out of her budget so she then started thinking about the word “beautiful” in Spanish, which is “bonito”.
Bonito is also the name of a fish and her mum suggested to make “bonitos” as fish-shaped cases. That’s exactly what she did because everybody knows that mums are always right! So she begun designing and sewing the products by herself.
How did you start? And what changes from the beginning?
Julia developed her idea in 2013 while she was studing her masters degree in Branding design and working on an agency, and the starting point was the Festivalet fair in Barcelona that same year. The fair was a total success so she invested all of her time and efforts on Don Fisher since that moment.
A lot had changed since 2013, I (Lorena) joined the team a few months later, we found a little sewing team that gave a more professional touch to our Bonitos and the brand started to grow organically: we started selling our products in shops around the world, our online community got bigger, we started to get interviews in international media channels…
We may be a bigger project now but we share the same values and have the same processes as in 2013. We are proud to produce locally in Barcelona, proud of our sewing team that creates such beautiful handmade products with their hands and proud of our original designs!
“We are proud to produce locally in Barcelona, proud of our sewing team that creates such beautiful handmade products with their hands and proud of our original designs!”
Julia & Lorena – Don fisher
How do you create and name your collections? The bonitos you make are extremely curated in style and details, how much study you put in the design process?
As we told you, each collection is inspired by one sea, ocean or river and their local fauna, captain Don Fisher comes back from sailing these incredible places and brings incredible Bonitos wih him that can be purses, bags, backpacks and so on.
Since Julia is a designer she is very meticulous with the documentation for her designs, the shapes of the products, the hues of the colors she chooses… everything has to be coherent in the collection.
She also has a good sense of humor, that’s why she likes to add unexpected details to the products, like the fish bone interiors or the pearl on the Oyster purse, for example.
Julia, you recently become a mum! Congratulations. How is it running a business as a mother? We know your own mother played a big role at the beginning when you were dealing with first prototypes. Can you tell us about it?
Thank you! Being a mum and running your own business is very tough, especially in Spain where you don’t have any particular help from the government and maternity leave is only 16 weeks.
My mum did play a big role since she was the one who suggested to make “bonitos” as fish-shaped cases because I loved everything beautiful or “bonito”, so I owe her a lot! She always supported my ideas and that’s exactly what I want to do for my son.
Among the bonitos on TA-DAAN shop, can you pick a favourite? Why? Tell us a fun fact about your products.
It’s always so difficult to pick only one of our Bonitos! We have a special love for the Oyster purse, it’s our absolute best-seller!
Who is your typical client? More kids or adults? Female or Male? Where you expecting something different at first?
Our typical clients are women in their 30s that love design, handmade products and look for beautiful accessories for her or for her kids. That’s exactly the kind of person we thought at the beginning because it’s also our profile!
Thank you very much Julia and Lorena for this interview. It was a pleasure to dive into the magical world of Don Fisher with you! 🎣
If you would like to learn more, you can find the collection and some interesting facts about the making process here.
Diana Yevtukh 
Les Izmoor 
TA-DAAN 
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