Bea talks to us about her passion for tattoos and how it helps her bring perspective to her work. “It’s not the same on a shoulder as on a leg. In that sense, I think this hobby helps me understand anatomy and apply it to my work, refining my designs,” she explains.
Beatriz Martínez has been working in Gobik’s design and pattern-making department for two and a half years. She is from Caudete, Albacete, around fifteen kilometers from Yecla. “In February I’ll have been here three years. I previously worked in Alicante, but I saw the opportunity at Gobik to become part of this department and went for it.”
Taste and passion for design
“I studied fine arts,” she tells us. “It was something that fulfilled me, and I specialized in design and screen printing. I’ve always been good with crafts. I like graphic design, I studied for a degree in it, I trained for textile printing and screen printing. In the way clothing is worked on, I see everything I learned reflected.”
A passion she combines with her love of tattooing:
“I have a tattoo machine. I make sketches by hand and transfer them onto the skin; it is an almost mystical process, where ideas, tastes or experiences trace their path toward eternity.”
She is the first to wear them, some done by herself: “I have around twenty, with varied themes. In the end everything is connected; when you design a tattoo, you work on anatomy, just as when you design a jersey.”
Her work focuses on custom garments for groups, where clients come looking for that “Gobik touch,” the brand’s distinctive and recognizable proposal, also in their designs.
A process that continues in pattern-making “with the checking of colors and finishes, since the level of craftsmanship required is very high and, from design, we take care of every detail so that the final piece meets all the client’s expectations.”
Growing at Gobik
In the Design Department there are “around twenty of us, and we’ll be growing again shortly, with two new colleagues joining. When I arrived, there were thirteen,” and that is because “we no longer only create custom garments for riding groups, we also create the graphic proposals for the different cycling events around the world that we sponsor.”
When reflecting on her beginnings at Gobik, she admits she was struck by it: “I remember my first group meeting; I was impressed by the amount of work the factory manages to handle each week.”
In the Design and Pattern-Making Department, briefs arrive in countless forms, from a simple sketch to creating a design from scratch. It is quite a challenge, one that has helped her grow over these almost three years, since in addition to developing her creative talent, she has learned to interpret the many ideas of the clients who come to Gobik looking for a special kit for their riding group.
All in all, she admits that “Gobik has influenced me a lot on a personal level; I’m growing in what I love, in the natural environment I’ve always known. Professionally, I faced a period of adaptation; the new way of working was quite a challenge. Now I’ve gained that confidence that makes you better at anything you set out to do, and even my colleagues ask me for advice. I like that feeling of progress, which is nothing more than the result of constant learning.”
Q&A
Do you ride?
I’m more into yoga and the gym; right now I’m focused on CrossFit
What music is always on your Spotify?
Reggae songs for inspiration; when I design, I want calm music. When I do patternmaking, I concentrate better with rock and heavier music
Series or films?
I’m not really into series, but if I watch them I want them to distract me without having to pay much attention, like Big Bang Theory and Modern Family
Wine or beer?
Beer, that’s for sure
Tour, Giro or Vuelta?
La Vuelta a España, it’s our home race and we know many of the climbs they tackle
