Desi Cuevas, creator
Email: eekbouteek@gmail.com
Blog: eekbouteek.tumblr.com
Facebook: facebook.com/eekbouteek

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About EekBouteek...

Desi Cuevas, a NY native residing in Downtown Miami, has always had her eyes on interesting handbags and unique accessories. In observance of the ever-changing female style, different is always the new “new”. Creating the Eek creatures, strange combinations of textiles, and cute couture accessories, Desi offers a fun, quirky, laidback style at her shop, EekBouteek.

What brought you to create EekBouteek?
I'm never satisfied when I go handbag hunting. It's either too small, the wrong color or everybody's got one. I wanted to create bags and accessories that reflected what I wanted to wear. Color is my favorite accessory so I wanted to play with different colors in the wide array of fabric choices. From the different piles of colorful fabric I acquired, along with doodles from artist MXYTSPLYK's sketchbooks, I took his concepts and made plushies out of them. I loved how irrational the creatures were in comparison to traditional color palettes and patterns. They were the perfect amount of messed-up. And that is how EekBouteek was born =)

What's your history as an artist?
I've always been fascinated by art, but I'm actually a pianist. It wasn't until a few years ago that I got into the art and fashion scene. I believe that artists are multiversal and I knew after so many years of playing in orchestras and jazz bands that I wanted to learn another form of art. Now, with a lot of creative guidance by MXYTSPLYK, I'm performing just as I did with music, but with dolls, fashion and visuals.

Where do you get your inspiration when designing your plushies and bags?
I love colors and patterns! For handbags, I enjoy designing function first, then style. I love designer bags, but don't like when they're overly popular or they're not functional. I like making bags I'd want to use all the time. The plushies are super fun to make, too! I get inspired by doodles the creatures come from and the textiles I've found. For example, I created the first "Slim the Monkey" from a nice Houndstooth pattern and recycled T-shirts and made his arms long enough to tie around your neck!

Where do you want EekBouteek to go in the future?
I'd like to find a following for EekBouteek somewhere between KidRobot and Sanrio, and with t-shirts, bags, accessories and plushies, I would love to open a real Bouteek! There's a lot of inspiring artists and venues in the Miami scene and it'd be great to get a piece of that and expose EekBouteek.

Any upcoming projects?
Heck yea! I'll be posting pictures of EekBouteek t-shirts and stuff on my blog and then back to sewing, sewing, sewing! And maybe a giveaway of a plushie or T-shirt! Stay tuned!

Edited by Leo Alvarez! Thanks for reading!
Desi Cuevas - EekBouteek