What do you love the most about taking photos?
Freezing a moment that when you see it again, you realise the beauty of it. That happens a lot with analog photography: you look though the camera and shoot but you have to wait to see the photo developed. You can be so so surprised by what happened in a millisecond. How the sun direction or the focus changed everything. Photography is basically magic.
Who would be your dream to photograph?
Kate Moss in the 90's, or...I would love to sneak into a Bowie or T-Rex concert in the 70s in London and capture the spirit of that youth.
Tell us about Joy Girls and what this means to you?
I started Joy Girls as a teenager. I had a blog and I used to upload photos I liked and I realised they all had a recurrent theme: girls unapologetically being girls. So I found a name that could represent that certain aesthetic for me. I started introducing the word "Joy" in the caption of every photo and that was so fun as I could imagine the story I wanted for every photo and express the wild and sweet concept of Joy Girls in every post.
I made an instagram account that I still use as a mood board to collect everything that visually inspires me and I hope it can also inspire anyone that arrives there.
Where do you look to for Inspiration?
Cinema. I am fascinated by David Lynch. Also Kubrick, Godard, Sofia Coppola, Gaspar Noé...Also music, and music videos.
Photography is so much about connecting with people and making them feel at ease, how do you get the best out of people?
I suppose by letting someone be who they are, no judgement. Just watching them "be" through the camera. And a warm smile always helps!
What makes your home feel like a home?
My cats, probably having art hanging on the walls to bring a nice energy into the room, cosy lighting, and lots of timber furniture, I love sourcing second hand for the home.
If someone had 24 hours in Barcelona what would you tell them they must do?
I would recommend spending some time in the neighborhood Gràcia, for lunch or drinks. Walk through the streets of Gótic and Born and check the vegan restaurants as we have some amazing ones here :)
We know you’re a music lover, what are 5 tracks that give us a little glimpse into your biggest music loves?
This is my favourite question ever and so hard to respond at the same time.
Out of time - Blur
Life's a Gas - T.Rex
There is a light that never goes out - The Smiths
White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
Nowhere girl - B-Movie
Do you remember a treasured or sentimental piece of jewellery that someone gave to you? Or that you bought for yourself?
A bangle my in-laws bought for me when they met me with the letter "A". And also a gold bracelet someone gave me as a present for my communion when I was 10. It stayed in a drawer for years and I found it some years ago and haven't removed it since. It has my name "Ariadna" written on it and it connects me with the 10 year old Ari.
Our new collection is called ‘Amourette'. Which is an unreasoning love or attraction, an infatuation - What is something you’ve learned about love over the years?
That we are here to learn how to Love. We live in a world where sometimes it's easy to pay too much attention to all the things that can go wrong and that can make us scared or angry. And when our heart feels like this, it's important to not surrender to these feelings and love as much as we can.
You can see Ari's Photography here.
