Lickyboy was the name of my cat growing up. He was black with green eyes and I named him after my favorite candy, Licorice. When my sister was a baby, she couldn’t pronounce his name, so she started calling him Lickyboy and we all followed. I just thought it was a cute name. And I like to keep everything in the family!

It happened by accident, really! I had gone home for the holidays and was really bored, so I pulled out the sewing machine I had gotten as a teenager but had never really used. I started making clothes from patterns. When I got back to Mexico, I wanted to continue making my own outfits but couldn’t afford a sewing machine. I always liked crochet and how it looked but never found actual outfits that I thought were cute. Around this time, I saw a photo of a vintage sweater and skirt set and thought, if I couldn’t get a sewing machine, I could try to learn to crochet and make something like that outfit. I found a yarn company I liked and started watching Youtube tutorials and slowly taught myself to crochet. It was quite frustrating at first, but once I got better at it, it became really calming.
Crochet, knitting, and embroidery are really present in Mexico. You see lots of handmade sweaters and baby clothes for sale in stores and at street stalls. There’s a group of women who get together around the corner from my house on Tuesday evenings and sit in plastic chairs and embroider together. It’s so cool. Mexico has such a strong artisan presence. After I had learned the basics, I met a woman, Patricia, who makes and sells baby clothes at the market near my house. She started giving me lessons and helped me put together the first crochet set.

I grew up in San Francisco and moved to Buenos Aires when I was 19 to go to university. I studied Latin American literature at the University of Buenos Aires and lived there for seven years. I was obsessed with Juan Rulfo, a Mexican writer who published two works in the ‘50s. His stories don’t take place in the city, but they got me interested in moving here anyway. During that time, friends of mine had moved to Mexico City and I came to visit and just loved it. After that visit, I planned to move here as soon as I finished school.

I just felt like making my own clothing at that time. I still do! If I’m not wearing Lickyboy or something vintage, I have most of my clothes handmade by a seamstress. I’m not a great sewer, but I like to find the patterns and the fabrics myself. Then, you never run the risk of someone else wearing what you’re wearing! And with crochet specifically, I felt like it had so much potential and was so underused. It’s amazing, it’s essentially just a series of knots, but you can make an entire outfit from them.

When I started crocheting, I had no intention of doing it as something that would turn into a business or thought about as something that other people would want. I made my first outfit for myself just for fun, but every time I’d wear it out, I’d get so much attention. I’d get into parties I wasn’t invited to, skip lines, get into clubs for free, lots of free drinks, and everyone would ask where I had gotten my outfit and if I did custom orders. I started working on a pattern and different designs, and it went from there!

I hope it does! The response we’ve gotten so far has been so positive, I think people really love seeing it used in a different way. Crochet is such a versatile technique, you can do so much with it. Usually, it’s something you’d get at the beach to throw over your swimsuit, I think that’s why the response to Lickyboy has been so great. We’re using a really old technique in a different way.

I think it’s hard not to be influenced by your surroundings. I bring my dog, Limon, everywhere with me, so we walk a lot around the city. Mexico’s such a colorful city, and I think people here have an innate gift with colors. I take lots of photos when I’m out and look through them when I’m drawing. I love the hand-painted signs here, even newer businesses continue to hand paint signs rather than having something printed. It looks so much nicer! And even the colors of the houses, the candle shops, the fruit stalls… everything’s displayed in this very beautiful way.

I definitely want to maintain the handmade aspect, but I’m open to exploring doing other designs on machines as well. Paying fair wages to the women I work with is really important to me. I know firsthand the time that goes into making these pieces, and while the women making them now have way more experience than I do and can make the pieces a lot quicker than I can, it’s still a very time-consuming process. That being said, the cost of production is high and that’s reflected in the retail price. Girls write to me all the time saying they’re saving up to buy a set. I’d love to work on pieces that are more accessible. We’re working on smaller pieces as well, which are still handmade but require less time to produce. We’re coming out with swimwear really soon and more home items.

Yes, the yarn used to make all our clothes comes from Mexico and is 100% cotton.

It’s definitely possible, but I also think it adds value to the pieces and makes people appreciate them more. I think, in general, we’re pretty unaware of where our clothing comes from and all the aspects that go into making it, but I think as the effects of climate change are becoming more and more evident, people are starting to question what and how they consume. It’s pretty amazing to wear something completely handmade, it feels so different and looks a lot cuter.

I think in terms of the production process, definitely. It takes about ten days to produce each piece from start to finish. And each piece, due to its handmade nature, is unique. All of the women who make the pieces have their own technique and style, so each one is really one-of-a-kind.

It’s been amazing. I made my first outfit for myself just over a year ago but didn’t start selling until September of last year. We’re really, really small still, it’s just me and the women who produce the pieces, so I think it’s crazy sometimes when I get messages for editorials from magazines I grew up reading or celebrity requests; I’m like, how did you even find us?!

I don’t feel like I have enough experience to give anyone advice. It’s been a process of trial and error, and a bit of luck! The only thing I keep in mind is whether or not I’d wear the piece. Do I feel cute in it? Do I want to go out dancing in it? For the homewear pieces we’re working on now, it’s a question of whether it’s something I’d want to look at every day. It’s very personal in that sense. So I think if you’re going to do something in fashion or design, keep it personal and original. What’s the point if you’re just copying others? It’s so boring.