Fish painted in acrylic, turned into posters, table linen and surfboards
Before it becomes a poster, a tea towel or a surfboard, every fish at Varek Illustrations is an acrylic painting. Côme and Roméo, two brothers who call themselves painter-fishermen, have spent their whole lives among the beaches and rocks of the Île de Ré, alongside parents who also painted by the water. Their project fits in one sentence: to paint every fish and crustacean they come across while fishing and diving.
From these canvases come posters printed in France, kitchen and table linen made in Provence, and decorative surfboards cut from pine by a cabinetmaker in Corrèze. Orders are packed and shipped by L'Atelier des Gens de Mer, a supported-employment business on the Île d'Oléron that employs former fishermen who had to leave the boats because of a physical disability.
Made outside France: the notebooks come from Slovenia, and the enamelled trays are made in India.
All that is left is to choose your fish, or your crustacean.
A short, readable chain, from the canvas painted in the studio to the parcel packed by former fishermen on the Île d'Oléron. Objects that keep the painter's hand, down to the silhouette engraved in the pine of a surfboard. And two brothers who paint what they have caught themselves or met while diving.
The original paintings, made in acrylic on cotton canvas, are reproduced in France on 250 g Biotop paper, with a natural grain and made without chlorine or optical brighteners. Three standard sizes, triptych compositions and, for those who want one, a solid oak frame made in Europe.
Tea towels, aprons, napkins, place mats and tablecloths are made in Provence from the studio's paintings. For the tea towels, a heavy 210 g/m² cotton twill, OEKO-TEX certified, chosen first of all for drying: the brand suggests soaking it in cold water for a few hours before the first wash.
Sarah, a cabinetmaker from Réunion, cuts these decorative boards from raw pine in her workshop in Corrèze. She sands them, paints them by hand, then laser-engraves the silhouette of a fish painted by the two brothers before varnishing the wood. Three sizes, to hang on the wall or stand upright. Each piece is unique.
