I totes LOVE today’s NEXT BIG THING featured item, Sirena con Jersey’s Mr. Moustache tote! Created by best friends Elisa Riera and Alícia Roselló, this venture is an international collabo as the two designers currently live in Brooklyn and Barcelona respectively. Read on to learn some crucial spanish phrases and find out how to become an official member of the Skirt Club!

How old is your company and how did you get your start?
We started in 2007. Elisa was studying illustration when she found an old knitting machine and she designed 7 sweaters, one for each day of the week. We loved the result and we decided to make sweaters with our designs. People liked it and we sold it. We’ve followed up with the tote bags but there are more products coming soon.

What does Sirena con Jersey mean?
“Sirena con jersey” means “Mermaid with Sweater” in Spanish. Elisa and I love mermaids. She’s always drawing them. I even made a mermaid cake once. And when we were looking for a name we found an old drawing I made when I was 7 years old of a mermaid wearing a sweater saying, “Hi! I’m a mermaid and I’m wearing a sweater!” and since we were doing sweaters and we both love mermaids we chose Sirena con Jersey. We didn’t want to think very much about a name… We just wanted one that was silly and sounds funny.

Tell us about your collaboration.
Elisa and I are best friends. We make products we’d like to buy but can’t find in stores so we do it ourselves. Elisa studied illustration and graphic design and is currently living in Brooklyn. I studied digital design and I have my own craft store and art gallery in Barcelona called Duduá. I love crochet and baking fantasy cakes. I’m more into crafts and she’s more into illustration. It’s a good combination. We also have a skirt club.

A skirt club?
When Elisa and I first met we realized we had a lot of things in common, and one was that we both had not worn pants or jeans for many years. We feel more comfortable wearing skirts or dresses. So we started saying we were in a “Skirt Club.” We ended up talking about it on sirenaconjersey.com and now we receive emails from people who want to join. If we approve, we send them a membership card. If you want to join the skirt club just send us an email, and if you have photographic proof it helps! Remember there’s only one rule: no jeans or pants allowed.

Alícia, I really love your shop Duduá in Barcelona. Tell us more!
The store is located downtown, in the old neighbourhood next to the sea. I opened Dudua 2 years ago and I sell craft products from all around the world, specifically from Spain and other European countries. We also teach freestyle crochet and amigurumi every week and we do exhibitions showing the work of young artists every month. Also two times a year we organize the Fantasy cake contest where people bring their fantasy cakes and the prettiest (not the yummiest) win our respect and super prizes. Duduá is a word we use in Spanish to sing when we don’t remember the lyrics of a song “dudua dudua dudua da da!”

How do you two keep in touch being so far apart?
We both are from Barcelona but recently Elisa moved to Brooklyn for work.
We talk almost everyday thru Skype and we send tons of emails. She’s coming back soon to Barcelona (I hope).