04. Interview with Tradingberry

Insight, value, community, inspiration.

Jesús Manzanares

Jesús is the creator and founder of Tradingberry, a clothing brand, and SSTUDIOCOLORÉ, a creative studio.
Born in La Rioja in the north of Spain and currently based in the city of Barcelona. Growing up as a creative person, he found his path not too long ago and is currently on a constant adventure of finding ways of exteriorising his ideas and creativity.

Interview - @ejjjjjjhd
Photography - @kevinsales and @ejjjjjjhd

What’s Tradingberry for you and what do you want it to be for everyone else?

So, TRBY is my creative outlet and for everybody else I’d like it to be a place where they can find inspiration and help them to find their way of making an impact on others and in the world.

How do people find inspiration through TRBY?

One of TRBY’s values is the power of trying to connect our inside being with our exterior. So, helping them to define their exterior through our products in order to express what they have on the inside. This is a way of adding value to themselves and obviously, to the world.

And what values does TRBY have that other people can express through their clothes?

Okay, so, I have a few different values that I want to project on the brand. But I also think that each person’s interpretation is different. So, for me, it’s like, I want to be aesthetic, that’s for sure. But, also remind people that there are other real living people working behind what they see, and how that relates to handcrafting and also, functionality and quality. I want TRBY objects to become a really important part of their lives. But not because of the item itself, because of the added value the person gives to it. Like in a certain kind of situation or I don’t know, like, a lot of people give added value to their clothing or items. So, I want them to try to do that with our products.

Okay, you show a lot on Instagram and on your website that it’s important for everyone to know that there’s a person or that there’s a team that work together on the projects. Why is this so important for you?

Because I think that nowadays we try to, well I mean, obviously it’s a part of a brand to have a personality but I think that because a lot of companies try to put the brand in the first place and then secondly, people. But, without those people, the brand doesn’t exist. So, for me it’s to try to show that in the backend, there are actual people working to create this brand’s personality. The brand doesn’t have one by itself, it’s the people that give the brand a personality.

So, for you it’s really important to showcase the people that you’ve worked with or those who were involved in the project.

Yeah.

How can TRBY being transparent with this help people? Like, showing publicly that there were many people involved, each with a different function and job in the creating of the project.

Because we are human beings and what connects us are emotions. A lot of brands try to represent emotions or play with them, to try to get you to join them or follow them. But, it is easier to just act like a real human being referring to other human beings. I mean it’s easy to connect us in that way.

How does this help you as well? How does it make you feel when you show publicly the people that were involved in your project?

It feels more natural because I don’t need to think all the time about being a brand, representing a brand and showing the values of the brand. Because the brand’s values are my own. And if I just show how myself interacts with others, I’m showing my own values, so I don’t need to think a lot about the “brand”.

So, the brand is like an extension of yourself?

Mhm.

Do you think that’s common with brands nowadays? Maybe referring to smaller brands, do you think that this idea is respected?

I’m not really sure, I think that in business, people try to be really opaque instead of transparent and I’m not really into that. But, I’m not sure whether this is a common thing, or not. But what’s for sure is that, for me, when I discover I brand, the first thing I do is try to find out who is behind it, and then, the more I discover about her or him, the more I like the brand. But that’s how it works for me, usually the person that’s behind it comes first and then the brand, and then I’ll decide if I like or dislike it.

And how do you show the world the person that’s behind TRBY?

It’s funny because I’m an “anti social-media person” so it’s quite difficult to do that, because I don’t want show my face directly but I do want to show my actions. So, I usually try to hide my face because I don’t want to be in the spotlight. Instead, I show everything that I do. I mean like, my drawings, my process of screen printing, my designs, my thinking, my skating haha… I don’t know, I’d rather show a lot of other things, instead of just showing my face.

Relating to the design and screen printing process, what advice could you give people? How was it for you? Learning how to screen print and use design programmes from scratch, to actually become a designer for a brand.

It’s hard when you find a problem in your path, you’ll definitely find some and it’s gonna be a hard rock to break; especially when you’re not studying in an academic environment or in classes with a teacher learning how to do these things. But, as time goes on you’ll look back at those rocks in your path, and you’ll see that is was easier than you thought.

Because I’m really a self-taught person, I mean, everything I’ve learned like, Photoshop, InkDesign or Illustrator, I’ve done it on my own. Basically everything I know, I’ve had to learn how to do it by myself. Even screen printing, I threw myself into the pool without studying anything about it before, I just learnt by doing. And that’s also kind of my mantra “learn by doing”. This works for me, rather than getting into loads of text books and then afterwards, trying to apply it. So, yeah, I don’t know. Even if you have a problem: by doing, you solve it.

Also, nowadays you have loads of information on Youtube and forums. I’ve spoken to a lot of people online whenever I’ve had a problem and needed help, and I’ve been able to find a solution. It may have taken me more or less time, but in the end, you find the answer. So basically, you can do anything.

You’re kind of against the idea of having to go to class and have a teacher to learn how to do something. But, you’ve spoken on other occasions about how much you love books and how they’ve helped you, so what’s the difference?

First of all, the books I read, I select them myself. So I don’t read anything that I don’t want to read, something that doesn’t happen in school. That’s the first thing and the other thing is, when I read my books in general, through the process of reading I usually come out with some useful ideas that I try to apply right in the moment I learn them. So, its different from school because sometimes in school you learn a lot of theory and then you’re supposed to apply it on the exam. But with my kind of books or my kind of learning, I usually read and learn something and when I find something that’s interesting, I try to apply it straight away. Sometimes it doesn’t work for me so I quit doing it but, it’t not usually the case.

And what are *your* type of books?

Pfff… they are really really really diverse. I don’t have a specific topic in mind because I love learning about a lot of different things. I’m into biographies, they’re really common in my library. But they don’t need to be art or design biographies, I love any kind of person’s biography. I’ve read ones of brand makers and creators like, Phil Knight, Joe Foster or Yvon Chouinard. Also, Steve Jobs’ biography and now I’m currently reading Einstein’s. I’ve also read the ones related to people in the financial world.

What do you get out of reading biographies? Why are they so important or special to you?

I think that in the first place they fill in a “something” in my life. That’s the first reason, I don’t know, most of us don’t have a mentor or role model that’s close to us in our lives and those that have one, I think they’re really lucky. But, that’s not my case, so reading biographies and learning how these people’s lives evolved and what they used to think, and the situations they found themselves in is really useful for me. I feel like I have a point of reference and sometimes, I can apply it to my own life or see myself doing that, or maybe I experienced a similar situation that I’ve then read and I think “oh okay let’s try to do it this way”.

They also empower me to do stuff, they are usually books about people that have done “stuff” in their lives or that they’ve achieved “something”. I’m not gonna get into what that stuff or something is. It may be something for them or for other people but, they achieve something that they set themselves. And, that’s something that’s important for me.

Now, I’d like you to recommend three books, one to make someone feel inspired.

Inspired to do stuff or to become a better person? Inspired to do what, to live? Because I have some of those too.

Okay! Inspired to live.

Okay, so inspired to live I would like to say The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino, because it helps you to live with a good nature and mindset. Not as in, having a positive mindset, but being positive for the world and living with that kind of mentality. I don’t really like the reference that the author makes to God, but that’s what he uses it to help explain the idea. But all in all, I really enjoyed it.

And now, a book for a creative person.

Uhhhh!, Sí, eres creativo by Maasaki Hasegawa in Spanish and Yes Progressive - Acceleration in Creativity in English.

That’s for sure a book that id recommend and why? I don’t remember why… but it puts you in a mindset where you appreciate your value and it also helps you to find your value and to not be shy to express it. I really liked it

And a book for an easy but fun and easygoing read?

Steve Job’s biography is easy and funny, well, it’s long but it’s easy. Oh! I have an easy book, it’s El campeón De Judo con Un Solo Brazo by Dominik Imseng. It’s got lots of little stories that each teach you something, some of them are pretty funny.

To finish off, what would you like people to think of when they hear Tradingberry? What’s the end goal for them to feel or think?

I would like them to feel like they have power in themselves and that they can achieve that through connecting their inside with their outside. The way of exteriorising it may be with a TRBY product that fits in well with them.

Sometimes I fantasise about the following idea: you know when some days you’re in a really really good mood, like you could eat the whole world. My dream is that, on that type of day people think “my mood is amazing and im gonna eat the world today, I need an amazing outfit that reflects what I’m feeling on the inside.” And for them to feel like they can express those amazing feelings and vibes with Tradingberry’s clothes is just awesome.

I would like people to think about our products in that way, for them to be their happy and amazing clothes that they want to wear to express it and be ME today. So yeah, I think it’s that.

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See you next week,

ejjjjjjhd.