©SLP ISSUE 004
NOT TO BURN CANDLES:
A talk with Copito.
Clara Infante's project reinvents itself as she does. What was born as a platform to sell second-hand clothes was transformed until it became what we know today as Copito: candles and crayons tinted with natural pigments.
As you get closer to Clara's workshop, you get further away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Located in the middle of a quiet town in the Garraf park we find your new studio. It's only been here a few months but its essence is already everywhere: candles of different shapes and colors, materials to work with them, molds... An artist's space.
Clara has always lived between two worlds, since she was born in Barcelona, but much of her life was spent in Miami and L.A., where she worked in marketing while fantasizing about becoming an artist. But creating his own workshop did not come until years later. First, as a big fan of vintage culture, he started selling second-hand clothes.
When the eldest of her three children was born, she and her husband (whom she had met in the US) decided to move to Olivella, a small town just forty minutes from Barcelona, as they felt it was the best place to start a family, surrounded by calm. and near the Mediterranean. But when he arrived here he realized that vintage culture was not so deeply rooted in Spain, so, in a very natural way, he ended up founding Copito: an online platform where he sold the clothes that were no longer suitable for his son, all sustainable and local. It was all a success.
COPITO
By reconnecting with her Mediterranean roots she also did so with her colors, her shapes... Clara had always felt a great fascination for the natural world and manual work, but it was not until her return to Barcelona that she began to experiment with elements of her environment, giving Copito a 180º turn: replacing second-hand clothing with natural objects of its own creation.
The pigments became the common thread of his creations. First there were some colored pencils that she molded with her hands and later some natural candles. While he gives us a tour of his workshop, he pulls out a tray full of crayons, each one carved into a different shape. They are so original and colorful that they make you want to pick up a blank sheet of paper and believe yourself to be an artist for a while.
NATURAL CANDLES
The idea for the candles came from watching a video of a man who produced them in the traditional style. Clara thought, “I have to try this.”
Their candles are made from 100% natural wax and pigments. One of its flagship designs, the Botero XL, inspired by the Colombian sculptor famous for his voluminous characters, goes through wax baths for 3 days until it reaches that characteristic thickness. “It's crazy, but it's worth it,” says Clara.
Not everyone likes the same candles. Some people prefer them to melt quickly and others enjoy watching them melt slowly. While he explains it to us, he lights one and lets it burn down. Although she confesses to us that she is one of those who prefers to leave them intact, since she uses them as decorative objects.
“Para ser feliz necesito fluir un poco con el proceso y no atarme demasiado a un diseño o a un producto.”
PROCESSES AND COLORS
Like most artists, Clara starts a project with a very clear idea of what she wants to do but during the process she gets carried away, so the final product has nothing to do with the initial sketch. Although it is right there when its true essence comes out.
“I would love to say that I am more of an entrepreneur than an artist but I am not. To be happy I need to flow a little with the process and not tie myself too much to a design or a product.”
When she started coloring her candles, Clara had very basic knowledge about the processes. But he researched the subject to be able to achieve his own tones, using only the natural elements he had available.
“Stop the car! “I have to go find a piece of that land.”
It was during a trip to his family home in the Pyrenees when he noticed the characteristic colors of the mountain that was next to the road: orange, reddish, yellow... He discovered a series of tones that worked very well for his watercolors and crayons, and in a very similar way, he progressively found the rest of the natural pigments for his creations.
MEDITERRANEAN ESSENCE
Last year, upon returning from her vacation on the Costa Brava, she went straight to the workshop to try to recreate the tones she saw there every summer. Clara assures that, no matter how hard she tries, she still has not managed to find the blue of the Mediterranean anywhere else in the world.
“I have a very high sensitivity to colors”
When we proposed to him to create a candle for Thinking MU he was very clear about what he wanted to do. He decided to reinterpret Copito's “full moon” model to achieve the shape of our sun. She chose a variety of colors that for her represented the essence of the brand very well: white, blue, green and red. “It has been a very fun process,” he says with that naturalness that is so typical of Clara.
