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Donostia-San Sebastian.  Journalist Maialen Goñi interviewed the Basque designer Ana Olazabal, recent winner of the Best Young Designer of 2012 in Spain award for the magazine Gaztezulo.  Following is a translation of some of the passages of the interview, originally published in Basque (full interview in Basque available on the web Gaztezulo, here).

- You are the best youth designer in the state at the age of 22 years old, how do you feel?

To tell you the truth, it was a surprise.  In the first place, I didn’t think I would win in Bilbao, where I was chose to go to Madrid.  I went to the contest in Madrid with the intention of simply participating, and so winning there was also a tremendous surprise.  Now that some time has passed I’ve begun to believe it little by little.  Two of my dreams are Paris and New York, and one at least is about to come true!  It is incredible, but true – she laughs --.  This award in Madrid has given me the opportunity to go to a Ready-to-Wear fair in Paris in September and I am really happy. 

-The collection that you presented is called “Release.”  How would you define it in two words?

It is a collection based on the movement of oil on water.

-So you can find inspiration anywhere?

Yes, this is very clear.  Sometimes things attract you at certain times, and you use those as inspiration.  At that moment I chose oils and “Release” was born.

(...)

-For someone that is unfamiliar, like me, how is an entire collection created?

So that you understand it well, I will try to explain to you how the last one was created.  I was in Milan with the Erasmus program, and when I got back I was met by thousands of outraged people in the Puerta del Sol in Madrid.  You remember, right?  Well I joined them – she laughs --.  There I saw a report on the September 11^th attacks on the Twin Towers, and from there, I began to look for more information on injustice and war.  I looked at a thousand images, that is what a designer has to do to get ideas: starving children, war, etc.  Finally, after all of this, I got to oil.  Deep down I think that this is what behind many wars, oil itself.  That is why I used it as a base.

(...) 

-The road to sewing garments is a long one, no doubt

Yes, and in the case of “Release,” I sewed the majority of them, even though I needed some help due to the lack of time

-It is hard work, contrary to what many believe

It’s clear that it is not easy.  I spent three months sleeping three hours a day, and I lost 7 kilos (15 pounds).  I worked day and night, and hardly ever went out with my friends.  I spent all my time thinking about the collection.  Plus, I sewed and made patterns pretty quickly; it was the design that was the hard part.  I like it a lot, but I kept going round and round: what shape, what fabric…