Meet the Designer of our Limited Edition Paddle Board

Meet the Designer of our Limited-Edition Paddle Board

Cast your mind back to summer last year and you might recall a slightly unusual competition we ran that was searching for a creative soul to design a new look for our most popular paddle board the Ride 10’6”. This all-rounder board has won many awards and as the go-to board for many first-time paddlers with a distinguished look that has remained pretty steadfast over the years, our team were just a little cautious as to how this campaign would come to life. Yet, in the name of a good cause and to help raise awareness and funds for our charity partner Love the Oceans, we were excited to see how our global SUP community would interpret the brief and re-imagine the look of our much-loved board.

Fast forward 18 months and here we are finally able to unveil the look of our very first limited-edition Red Paddle Co SUP. But before we get carried away with how good it looks, we wanted to find out a little more about the winning designer, Circe Oropeza, and how her beautiful and timeless design ‘All is Water, Water is All’ came to be.

Hi Circe, congratulations on winning our very first limited-edition board competition. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself…

Hello team Red! My name is Circe Oropeza, and I am a stay-at-home mom by day and a freelance illustrator and surface pattern designer by night. I live in beautiful Hidalgo, Mexico with my partner, the sweetest 2-year-old girl and two fluffy cats. I love drawing and reading with my daughter, spending time outdoors, trying new muffins recipes, taking care of my indoor garden and all things cat 

Have you always been an illustrator? How did you get into art & design and what other artists are you inspired by? 

Even though I had always been drawn to creative careers, after high school I went for a degree in Chemical Engineering in fear of struggling to pay the bills as an artist or designer. I quickly realised this was the wrong choice, I got neither money nor happiness, so I went back to school to study Graphic Design related.

After 6 years of working as a visual designer for several companies, I quit my job to become a freelancer. During this time, I took a lot of illustration courses online and one day, a surface pattern design class crossed my path, I completely fell in love with this form of creative design and couldn't stop. More recently I’ve started working with an art agent and I couldn’t be happier. My everyday job is to make art for a wide variety of products and brands such as fabric, greeting cards and home decor. 

I admire a lot of artists but when it comes to illustrating nature, I'm always inspired by the work of @scaterbee, @rohandahotre, @helenemk_illustration and @kauri_paperstudio. Give them a follow for some imaginative and diverse illustrations, all that embrace the beauty of our natural world.

The design you created for our board was a big hit with our design team. What was the inspiration for your repeater pattern, and can you tell us the meaning of the title of your work, ‘All is Water, Water is All’?

I often take part in Spoonflower Design Challenges and this one caught my interest in particular due to the cause it was supporting. Having a graphic designer background, it’s pretty easy for me to set a working plan for any project. I started by doing quite a bit of additional research about Red Paddle Co and understating the look and feel of their products, their community and their ethos.

The creative brief we were given was the following… “The beauty captured in your creative designs will highlight the importance of preserving the oceans, coastlines, rivers, lakes, marine life and ecosystems so that future generations can enjoy and treasure our one blue planet.”

I instinctively came up with the idea to recognise the importance of water because it’s part of every living being on earth, life it’s simply not possible without it. That’s how I chose the title of my design, ‘All is Water, Water is All’. I focused on drawing sea life all made by waves to include the ever-changing movement of the ocean and waterways.

I decided to go with a monochrome line artwork because I thought it’d work best for the application to the paddle board while still being true to the brand. It resulted in a texture that doesn’t compete with the logo and while it may not be made of clear decisive shapes at first sight it's a nice surprise when you take a closer look and see all the marine elements and individual shapes make up the whole design.

Once I start working on a design with a very clear idea in my mind, everything flows very smoothly. I really enjoyed working on this project it all came very naturally.

Did you know about ‘Love the Oceans’ before entering?

I didn’t know too much about Love the Oceans to begin with. I had to get to know a bit more about them as a part of my brainstorming process and I’m grateful for people like them who give their best to make a positive impact in the world and key communities every day.

How does it feel to know that your design will be helping ocean conservation and supporting the communities via Love the Ocean’s great work?

It's pretty amazing! And to know that 10% of profits from the sale of this unique board will be donated to the charity and will be continuing their important research makes it even better. We often forget that it is possible to contribute to good causes in our own way. As a family, we take small actions every day at home to reduce our impact on the environment and knowing that I can do a little bit more just by doing what I love is just awesome, I feel so lucky.

How does it feel to know that your design will be helping ocean conservation and supporting the communities via Love the Ocean’s great work?

It's pretty amazing! And to know that 10% of profits from the sale of this unique board will be donated to the charity and will be continuing their important research makes it even better. We often forget that it is possible to contribute to good causes in our own way. As a family, we take small actions every day at home to reduce our impact on the environment and knowing that I can do a little bit more just by doing what I love is just awesome, I feel so lucky.

Where are you looking forward to paddling with your winning board and if you had to pick where is your favourite place to paddle?

I don't live near water, but my favourite vacation spots are anywhere that involves beaches, lagoons, rivers, or lakes. I love that feeling of being surrounded by the quietness and beauty of nature.

I love to paddle at the beach. A few years ago, I travelled to Laguna de Bacalar in Quintana Roo, and I think it is a perfect place to paddle. I have also started to build a list of places in Mexico to practice paddle surfing, so far top of my list are places like Baja California Sur, Tulum and Manzanillo. I can't wait to get my limited-edition board and get on the water!

A big thanks to Circe for her imaginative interpretation of the brief the board will be available on a limited run only so once it is gone it is gone!

The Limited Edition 10’6” Ride board package starts from £999.00. It is now available to pre-order online and in select stores globally.