Kickin’ It with Royalty

After having a rash of reoccurring dreams about my teeth falling out, it seemed like stringing an iconic Princess Tina tooth (with cavity!) charm around my neck was an ideal remedy. Princess Tina’s very Japanese “Superflat” aesthetic, bold graphics and kitsch factor caught my eye and the eye of every person who spotted my necklace. That first Princess Tina piece was just like a Lays potato chip—I couldn’t have just one! I moved onto a handmade hoodie, another necklace and two pairs of earrings.

Australian freelance designer Beci Orpin started Princess Tina after an exhibition in Sydney where she had to make a product to sell. She created hankies that read “Princess Tina’s Pony Club” on them. By chance, a buyer from Paris’s Colette happened to be at the show and placed an order for them. A few months later, Orpin started a small range of printed tees and totes, and the Princess Tina line grew to include jewelry, baby clothing, stationery and housewares. I e-interviewed Orpin to find out a little more about the woman behind the Princess.

Why “Princess Tina”? Where did the name come from?
Amongst my hoards of junk and collections are some 1960’s annuals from a British magazine called Princess Tina. The Princess Tina annuals always had the most amazing covers of painted girls, so I just took it from there. I have to admit that I didn’t think about it too much!

What is your fascination with teeth? (I often get answered this question while wearing your tooth necklace!)
When Princess Tina was in the beginning stages, I used to walk past this dentist’s office on the way to work—the dentist had this weird tooth-guy logo that really stuck in my head. One day I decided to do my own tooth guy. I didn’t think it was good enough, so I shelved it. When I was putting together my second Princess Tina collection, the tooth was a very last minute addition. Surprisingly, people loved it! I kept running with it and now it is my logo!

Where do your ideas/imagery stem from?
Well, my source of inspiration change all the time! I seem to be mostly influenced by things from my childhood. My parents gave me tons of books and toys from different cultures and those have influenced me tremendously. I have been into folk art for quite some time, which is definitely reflected in my work at the moment. I am also really into vintage French and Russian children’s books and cartoons right now.

What can we expect from Princess Tina in the next two years? Will you be branching out to more paper goods or more clothing and accessories? Do you see the line growing or would you like to keep it small?
I just don’t know! I am not that organized! Princess Tina is growing so fast—every season we have more accounts and need more people to help us. At this stage in the game, I still want to keep it relatively small and special. I’d love to do more housewares and expand the baby range, but it’s all so time consuming, and Princess Tina is only half of what I do so I guess it depends how much sleep I want to get!

Being Australian, what do you think of America?
I love the States! We (Raph, my husband and business partner) were going to move there—we even had an immigration lawyer! We discovered I was pregnant and decided to stay here in Melbourne to be close to our families. We usually visit the US twice a year for business (NY, LA and SF), and are lucky enough to have lots of good friends to hang out with over there.

Your designs and jewelry are mostly 2-D, will Princess Tina ever go 3-D and make toys/figures?
In the collection I just sold (which will hit stores in March 07), I made soft toys that were a huge success! I’ve also been talking to a vinyl toy company about making a figure, which is very exciting—I just have to find the time to do it!

How do you balance your business and making art?
Doing art shows are really important to me, but finding time is really difficult. Most of the art I make is specifically for shows—I never have time to just make art for the sake of making art! It all crosses over though. I had an art show at X-girl in NY last May, and many of the ideas that came off that work were the basis for the next Princess Tina collection.

What other artists out there today influence your work?
I really like textile designer Alexander Girard and the way he used folk-arts in his work. Lizzie Finn from the UK is also amazing. Other fravorites include Misha Hollenbach and Shauna Toohey (from Perks and Mini), Fawn Gehweiler, Ashley Snow-Macomber, Espo, Peter Sutherland, and Josh Petherick. I like a lot of children’s book illustrators too.

Check out these websites for Princess Tina!
www.princesstina.com.au
www.chocosho.com
www.magic-pony.com
www.builtbywendy.com

– Chako Suzuki