Meet Genevieve Santos | Illustrator & Ceramicist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Genevieve Santos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Genevieve, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?
After I graduated from college, I spent my graduation money on a backpacking trip across two continents. It was my first time leaving the US, and I spent a portion of it with friends and a portion traveling solo. It was then that I discovered I truly loved not just traveling but traveling on my own. As a woman, I found it incredibly empowering, having to rely on just myself.

As the trip started to wind down, I knew that once I got back to the states, I would dive into work and finding time to travel again would be difficult. So I created a goal for myself: 30 countries before I turned 30. 30 countries in 7 years. From renting a camper van and driving solo across New Zealand, living in the Philippines twice, to seeing the northern lights in my 31st country, Finland, before my birthday, setting this personal goal truly changed my life. It pushed me to find a balance between work, travel and art. I saw how the three created a symbiotic relationship, and I crafted my business, Le Petit Elefant, around those three pillars. Additionally, my time in the Philippines allowed me the time and space to get to know my culture and heritage in a way I never would have had I just stayed in the states. Now I have a whole line of Filipino cards, art prints, and stickers born out of the pride that grew during my time there.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve had Le Petit Elefant for some time now (11+ years) but it took me some time to create Filipino-focused art. I tend to draw what I know, so after my time living in the Philippines-about 3 years into my business-Filipino culture was on my brain. At the time, I hadn’t seen Filipino art at the craft fairs and comic conventions at which I was vending. Additionally, I grew up not really seeing myself in TV, books, and mainstream culture and in retrospect, I really feel frustrated by how I did not have the opportunity to experience that. So I took a leap and decided to draw my culture. I didn’t really care if it didn’t sell. It just felt more important to put it out there, to create a space for my culture. Fast forward to now, I have enamel pins, prints, stickers, cards, keychains, and more, all celebrating Filipino culture. I see a lot more artists embracing it and creating art for it too, and it makes me really happy. It feels great to be seen and to celebrate it! Representation matters!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I loooove food so I usually design my itinerary around food. I absolutely love Stephanie Izard’s The Girl and The Goat in Chicago and am thrilled they opened a location in Los Angeles. We’d also visit Night + Market Song in Silverlake and Lasita in Chinatown. Lasita has some of the best new Filipino food I’ve had! When they were Lasa, I took my extended family for dinner as a Christmas present. They were so emotional and touched by the meal because they’ve never had elevated Filipino food quite like that. In terms of dessert, I love ice cream. My favorites are Wanderlust, Scoops, and Fosselman’s. We would definitely have several meals in Koreatown, like Park’s BBQ and BCD. I love KPOP (specifically BTS) so I’d shop at the several KPOP stores in Koreatown, and unwind with a relaxing day at a Korean spa.

To see art, we would swing by LACMA, Giant Robot and Gallery Nucleus. And as a small business myself, I love supporting local shops like Leanna Lin’s Wonderland, Paper Pastries, Shorthand, Big Bud Press, HIGHTIDE and Tiny Deer Studio.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to give a shout to my younger sister, Bina Santos. She’s just an incredible spirit with such a positive attitude. She’s always been so supportive of my creative endeavors. She’ll use her vacation days to help me vend at San Diego Comic Con or if I need another eye on a design, I can trust her to give me her honest opinion and solid feedback. We’re very close, the type of sisters that can finish each other’s sentences. I’m just so proud of how much she’s grown and how talented she is as an art director and paper cut-out artist.

Website: lepetitelefant.com

Instagram: @lepetitelefant

Twitter: @lepetitelefant

Facebook: facebook.com/bylepetitelefant

Image Credits
Kevin Biggers, Mark Sebastian, Lan Nguyen