At most my closet housed over 100 t-shirts. I don’t have a problem, you have a problem! No really, t-shirts are one of the simplest yet most satisfying pieces of clothing to have. That is probably why Marcelo and Petra of Talunah have taken t-shirts and made them their whole world. With tees that do everything from make you smile to make you look stylish, Talunah is one of the greatest places to pick up your new favorite piece of clothing. We talked to the perfect pair behind Talunah to learn the who, what, when, where and why of it all.
Kendra: Did you two come from a design and fashion background or was this a long time interest that you two decided to make a reality?
Petra: It’s been a dream of mine for many years to have my own fashion brand. I’ve always loved designing and so I decided to study fashion design while I was living in Australia. This led me to working in the industry for some of the top Australian fashion brands. But then I started working in other fields of work and started teaching yoga, traveling more, designing less. Marcelo really inspired me and asked me to work on this project with him, I was so happy and excited and so here we are!
Marcelo: I come from a design background, I’ve been a graphic designer for about 12 years. I always had the idea of having my own brand but I never managed to get around to it. When I met Petra we both shared the same ideas and it just clicked, so we wanted to create something we could share together.
Kendra: Thinking back what was the first thing in terms of design that really sparked your interest?
Marcelo: Well, we are both very much into yoga, dance, movement and play. Petra is a yoga teacher and I teach Acro Yoga. In terms of design, we wanted to create a brand where we could express our love for the things we love. We were inspired by the things we were both learning from our spiritual journey. We were inspired by nature, the sun, the moon, our travels and wanted to bring all these elements and messages together to share on our shirts.
Kendra: When you two decided to launch Talunah in 2018 on Etsy, was that the first time you two worked together on something like this?
Petra: Yes, that’s the first time we had ever worked on a project like this together. We spend so much time together and were a little nervous if it could affect our relationship. But it turned out to be so much fun, we actually work really well together! We’ve learned so much more about each other through this process and it has definitely made our relationship even stronger.
Kendra: From girl power to yoga realness to hippy chic, your designs have a wide array of happy vibes. When you think of the people buying your tees who do you have in mind?
Talunah: We design our shirts for people who that want to express their positivity and compassion to through what they wear. Talunah is for the people who want to share their voice and bring more awareness, it’s for the people who want to express love and gratitude.
Kendra: Where would you say the one place on the map that gets your creative juices flowing?
Talunah: We both spend a lot of time in Thailand. We are either on the islands in the south or up North near the mountains. Basically, we love to be in nature. It’s we were can really reconnect with ourselves and through this connection we ourselves, each other and the people around us, this brings us a lot of fresh energy, creativity, and ideas.
Kendra: Talunah is also proud to be eco-friendly, was that something that had to be part of the big picture?
Talunah: Yes, definitely. We wanted to be sure that the garments we are using are ethically made and do not impose a negative impact on the environment. That’s why we only choose to work with specific manufacturers that are in line with our values.
Kendra: What’s next for Talunah as we head deeper in 2019?
Talunah: Well we are only just getting started. It’s on been a few months since we launched Talunah and there’s so much more we want to do! We want to expand the brand and introduce more products. We are super excited and just want to keep spreading positive vibes and get the message of love out there!
