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Clara wears the Cabin Cardi, Lou Tee, and Anaise Slipdress.
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What was your journey to this generative moment?
In a way, I feel like my entire life has been a lead up to this very moment. I’ve lived a lot of very different lives having grown up here in Spain, then moving to Florida when I was 7 and to LA at 20 and finding my way back home in my early 30s. I boomeranged as far as possible from the place I was born, my true self, and then came back to myself and only then was I able to hone in on my creative powers.
My transformation happened when I became a mother: the sudden existence of these humans I was forever attached to, it made me painfully aware of my limitations with my time (I remember having my first serious thoughts about my own mortality just hours after my first born arrived) and it became a funnel for my creativity and productivity. I also felt drawn back to my place of birth, I didn’t see where I fit in my old life in LA.
The years spent nap-trapped under my babies were years I spent imagining all of the things I’d like to try my hand at...I was exploding with creative energy, desperate to redefine myself and work out who I was now after having had these kids.
At first I had an obsession with natural dyes, which led me to making my first product… my botanical crayons and once I’d introduced wax into my studio it became clear I should try making candles. Each pivot felt natural and was well received by my community, probably because I share a lot of my process and failures online…a place I naturally turned towards when I became a mother, seeking connection, validation and an outlet for my creative endeavors.
From the foraging of pigments to the labor in your process, your work is highly physical. How does that physicality inform creation?
The physicality of my work is so important to me. I have a bit of neurodivergence and have never been able to sit at a desk to work. Being on my feet, working with my hands, and all of the movement in between it keeps me focused. My attention span has always been very scattered, I can’t describe how locked into my work I am but it is intrinsic to my ability to create new designs and to work through large productions.
Tell us about your journey with color.
I once stumbled upon an image on Pinterest. It was a photo of a bunch of socks in different hues of pinks and reds, all naturally dyed by Kathryn Davey who would eventually teach me my first workshops in dyeing fabric with food waste and plants. I can’t really describe what came over me when I saw that photo but I had never felt such a pull to something in my life and as soon as I began experimenting with plant pigments I understood what people meant by having “a calling” because now I had mine. I doubled down on my pigment work and exploration when I began making my botanical crayons because I realized there was a limit to what plant pigments could do for me. Also through the internet, I came to realize that I could draw color from earth and thus began my work in levigating ochres and iron rich pigments from road cuts and the sides of mountains… Another mind blowing practice which really fills my cup. Unfortunately my production schedule has slowed me down in my exploration of color and what I can do with it but that is the crux of the matter… I get to earn a living off this really wonderful work, no complaints here!
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Clara wears the Vija Shirt, Lou Tee, and Field Pant.
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Courtney wears the 1930's Bandana in Ash.
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How do you want to feel in your clothes?
I have never felt more like myself, more powerful and beautiful and strong as I do right now. I want a wardrobe that matches that. I want to be comfortable of course, but I also want to project what I feel inside with how I present myself. I think society has a tendency of putting mothers in a box, like we aren’t sexy or youthful because we’ve given birth.
What brings you joy in the present? What are you dreaming of for the future?
This life that I am living right now. I know I’m going to look back on this time and think “I really had it all”. I can only hope to carry on living like this, healthy and happy and able to live off my work.
And because inquiring minds want to know: how do you get wax out of your clothes?
Oh gosh! I have become a master at the backwards hop to avoid the beeswax splatter but here are some tips: wear an apron, if you get wax on your clothes, stick them in the freezer and scrape what you can off the garment, then take a piece of parchment paper and an iron and you can iron the remaining wax onto the paper. Some of it will stick to the fibers but over time with multiple washes, it will wear off the fabric.
Follow Clara on Instagram here, and Copito here. Photography by Silvia Conde. Shop Clara's OZMA selects here.
We're thrilled to be offering a limited collection of Clara's Botero Candles — view them here.
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