This week, we echo the first publication of a Valencian publishing house. Malian Editora publishes the illustrated book The tooth fairy's old tooth warehouse. His two co-authors grant us an interview: Vicent Vila Berenguer and Aram Delhom Solaz. Vicent Vila is a member of the Association of Cultural Managers of the Valencian Country, He was one of the founders of the Bambalina Titelles company and, for twenty years, directs the Escalante Theater Center of the Valencia Provincial Council. For your part, Aram Delhom is a graphic and audiovisual designer, Illustrator, musician and art lover in general. Among his artistic production, both in animation, audiovisual, drawings, illustrations and designs, highlight the work Tales of a thousand and one nights (kidding), also with Vicent Vila. GINÉS J. VERA
How did the idea of writing this book come about??
Vicent Vila. The idea arises from the demand from visitors to the Old Tooth Warehouse located on Borrull Street in Valencia., as a summary of the activity and as a “catalog” of the exhibition.
One of the big questions we ask ourselves, whether we are adults or children, What is the Tooth Fairy doing with so many teeth?. This and other questions are answered in the book., TRUE?
V.V..: Yeah. There is a question and answer game with questions that interest children in relation to teeth and their loss. Some live it with excitement but for others the fact of losing a tooth, especially the first, It is still a traumatic or worrying experience. In any case, the publication relativizes the issue and normalizes it in a fun way., colloquial and playful.
An image of the Pérez Mouse appears on the cover, we see him elegantly dressed, as if inviting us to enter not only his warehouse, also in the adventures of this book. Who were you inspired by when choosing the look?, the image, by Odón Peréz taking into account that I imagine that each of us has imagined it in a different way?
Aram Delhom.: The image of Odón Pérez was a less simple task. We all have a more or less defined image of this figure so deeply rooted in our culture., so my claim was not based solely on finding a perfect representation of Mr. Pérez. We had to find an image of the character as the lord caretaker of all the teeth in the world, possessor of them, elegant, careful in his clothes and his forms; although very close and sometimes somewhat careless. I found inspiration in numerous portraits where those characteristics prevailed., collages of animals, photographs of powerful people and humble people and illustrations from a time far removed from our own where our Pérez Mouse could come from.
What was the process of illustrating El Ratón Pérez's old tooth warehouse based on the text by Vicent Vila??
A.D.: Relatively simple. I was lucky enough to be part of the process of creating the space The old tooth warehouse of the Ratón Pérez, not only in the design of the character but also in the different illustrations shown there. When I read the text for the first time, I was immediately able to immerse myself in the story and the world of the Tooth Fairy. In that aspect I had it easy, images began to come to me, I began to soak up that mousy atmosphere. Antique, mystery, curiosity, fragility began to intertwine to shape that special world. Those characteristics were what I captured in the illustrations.. Starting from simplicity, but without forgetting the details, The world of Odón Pérez began to take shape and color.
