A Triumph of Handcrafted Ingenuity: The Story Behind 31 Minutos Viral Tiny Desk Concert Wardrobe

On October 6, 31 Minutos Tiny Desk Concert premiered, with the Chilean band making history at NPRs famed series and already surpassing 6 million views.

Alongside fan favorites like Baila sin cesar, Objeci f3n denegada, and Mi Mu f1eca me habl f3, what also captivated viewers was the musicians wardrobedesigned to blend seamlessly into Tiny Desks iconic set, packed with color, toys, and office ephemera.

The striking visual effect came from the work of the bands costume designer, Catalina Devia, who also teaches at Finis Terrae Universitys School of Theater in the Scenic Design course for second-year Acting and Theatrical Creation students.

She was the one who brought to life the ideas of c1lvaro D edaz and Francisco Schultz: abThe concept came from 31 Minutos creative team. From the direction, Pancho called me in the second week of August, I think, and said, we came up with this. I told him it sounded fun and accepted. At first I thought it would be easy; as the days went by I realized it wasnt. The 31 Minutos teams brilliant intuition knew it would be funny, a good gag, but we certainly didnt expect the level of analysis its inspired. bb

Even though it sounded simple at first, Devia explained that the creative process was lengthy: abIt took a whileabout a month to study the set and review it again and again. It took a couple of weeks or more to get a high-quality photo from Washington that would guarantee a clean print at any size. I also never thought to ask for the wall height; I trusted I could work from the proportions I perceived by looking at it. I put a lot of trust in my eye bb