Hello! My name is Laia Arriols, A.K.A. Apanona.

I live in a town near Barcelona with my two girls Joana and Martina. I'm an illustrator, photography lover and graphic design fan. The birth of my daughters reconnected me with my own childhood and also with creative expression, an aspect in a kind of hibernation state until then. In 2008 I started Apanona, a personal project that aimed to, through illustration, photography and graphic design, create the great source of inspiration and creativity that evokes childhood.

I'm a self-taught illustrator and I use digital techniques in 99% of my work. I love typography, colors, textures, silhouettes and the style of the 60's and 80's: two radically different decades!

I get inspired by my everyday life: family, friends, music, art, movies, cartoons, and children's world in general. I mix it all up and I try to transmit “childhood emotions” through my illustrations: happiness, discovering, magical, funny, tenderness...

Oh, in case you're wondering what “Apanona” means: Apanona is how my elder daughter said "butterfly" (“papallona” in catalan) when she was two. I found this name very sweet to create things around the world of children.