Today in New York: Norma Andreu

Norma Andreu is from Mexico City, has lived in  New York and now settled in Montreal, Québec.

Norma loves children’s books and she moonlights as a painter, an illustrator, a uber funny blogger and more recently a textile artist.

Under the name of Cara Carmina Norma created a wonderful world of fabric dolls and accessories hand made with love and filled with colorful and joyful  mexican vibes.

:: Why and when did you start Cara Carmina? I started it on 2008.  Originally Cara Carmina was my 2^nd blog entirely dedicated to the children illustration world, I am a children illustrator besides being a textile artists so when I began to make dolls I just thought it was the perfect name for my design project as I always think about my dolls as the life version of my illustrations!

:: Where do you get your inspiration from? From lots of things!  From art, from fashion, from children books, from nature, from my fridge (I love the colors of fruits and veggies), from the people in the streets (sometimes you just have to look around to see the most wonderful characters!), from my dreams, from other artists works, from looking around in Flickr and Etsy or my favourite  blogs and movies. Inspiration is there for all of us to see it, we just have to open our eyes and see…

::Who is your ideal buyer? Someone who appreciates my craft and my care for detail, (some of my dolls take me up to 7 hrs. to finish so that´s part of their beauty)  someone with a big appreciation for detail, color and textures.  Someone with a very eclectic taste … Usually my buyers are very friendly and trendy!!!

:: What is your favourite NYC place? Oh that´s a difficult question, I have many favourite places in NYC! (museums, stores, hoods, parks…), But if I had to choose one, is the amazing Strand book store at Fulton str. (in the Financial District) and after getting some cool books (I´ve found great old editions of my favourite children books there!) I would cross the street to eat the best (and when I say the best I mean: THE BEST!) coconut Thai soup with some sticky rice at Bennie´s (a small, tiny Thai restaurant just across the street) Great books and Excellent Thai food… nothing beats that!

:: Do you think New York can still considered the place-to-be for young creatives? YES!! New York is THE place for ALL creative people (period)… I´ve always thought that all artists and creative people should live in cities full of culture, museums, galleries, music, etc…  that will surely get them even more inspired!  There are other cool cities in the world but NY is definitely in the top 5!!!

:: Where do you shop in NYC? I like hidden little stores of specialties that are all across the city… For example French pastries I could buy at Payard (Madison and 63th str.) in the Upper East Side (best Opera cake in town and amazing Macarons!)  I would buy some nice Japanese stationery and children books (in Japanese) at Kinokuniya Book Store (6^th Ave and 42^nd str.) or could go to fish for some cool sales to Century 21 (I´ve seen some really great designers items with unbelievable prices there!!!)  I love Chelsea and Tribeca to browse around some cool furniture stores and galleries and Nolita is cool too for finding some small cool stores!  Oh I forgot! … I love Museum boutiques!!!! All of them but the MOMA one is one of the coolest!!!

:: If I say Italy, you say…? Firenze!  I have lived in Florence for some months 10 years ago and I just love that city!)I would also say: ANDIAMO!