Almudena Laborda
At the head of this project is Almudena Laborda, an independent designer and artist who creates her timeless collections in Spain, recovering the work of artisans and making unique pieces in limited editions.
Can you tell us a little about your art and the inspiration behind it?
I am fascinated by the expressive capacity of colour in itself, the language that an image acquires when combining colours with automatic strokes, for me it is not so much a process directed by reason but by the subconscious. In my process everything generally starts with colour, looking for the perfect combination of colours that transmit what I feel or what I am looking for at that moment.
"El color es la piel del mundo"
Sonia Delaunay.
We want to bring our pieces to your everyday life
When designing a piece, do you think more about its use or do you see it as a piece of art to enjoy?
The search for beauty is always my goal in everything I do, when I am immersed in the creative process itself, painting or modelling the clay I don't stop too much to think about functionality and I let myself go, then I like to think about what practical applications could be given to these creations, in which spaces I would place them or in which they could be transformed, for example silk seemed to me a wonderful support to highlight the colours of the gouache and I am quite satisfied with the result. This is how the lamps also came about, working the clay once the sculpture was modelled and finished, inspired by my pictorial forms, I thought of the idea of introducing a point of light. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version).
What is your first memory to situate your style?
In my case I don't think there is a very marked starting point, the interest in everything creative has always been in me and has been developing progressively, I always knew that I was going to dedicate myself to it. From a very early age I showed an interest in fashion and art, and although my training is in fashion design I specialised in textile design, I was very interested in the idea of taking my drawings or paintings to fabric and I think that from then on I started to develop my love for painting more, to take it more seriously, I started with watercolours, then acrylics and now I'm in love with gouache Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Fashion is always with me when I create, plus it's my background and I've dedicated myself to it for the last 10 years working for the industry.
Do you think your style will evolve for the creation of other lines such as fashion?
Fashion is always with me when I create, plus it's my background and I've dedicated myself to it for the last 10 years working for the industry. I like to be aware of trends without letting them influence my work too much and I don't rule out developing garments in the future.
What has the biggest impact on your designs, mood, light, travel, your roots?
I think that inevitably the mood influences, from the selection of the colour palette to the action of painting itself, everything is connected, although there is always a backdrop that accompanies you and influences your creations, that forms part of who you are and what you want to tell, in my case I am very conscious of how my roots influence me, it is a recurring theme to which I return time and time again, for me an inexhaustible source. In a slightly nostalgic way when I create my paintings I visualise the sunsets in the alcarria of La Mancha, the warm orange light just before the sun sets, the green landscapes of olive groves mixed with clay-coloured earth, the ochre fields of wheat and the yellow of the sunflowers. I like to transport myself to those eternal summers of my childhood, or to imagine how my ancestors would have lived that simple but hard life in the countryside. For me it is undoubtedly an internal process, from the inside out.
What comes first in the creation of the pieces, the colours or the shapes?
In painting, colour always comes first, but when it comes to expanding the collection, for example, I have designed ceramic pieces and lamps inspired precisely by the shapes of the paintings, and I was attracted by the idea of taking it to 3D and working in volume, like sculpting the shapes of the paintings.
There are several pieces of ceramics from Priego, do you have any relation with Manchegan ceramics?
As I mentioned before, part of my family comes from Castilla La Mancha, very close to the town of Priego, famous for its ceramics. Since I was a child I have grown up surrounded by pieces of popular pottery when we were in the village, botijos, jars, crockery etc.... Let's say that it was my first contact with this medium, before I started to work with clay with my hands I admired the work of these humble artisans whom I liked to visit every time I travelled to the village. The Priego collection is a tribute to the traditional know-how of each region, and of course, to my roots.
What is most important to you: comfort, beauty or innovation?
Beauty always, although when it comes to thinking about functional items, comfort seems fundamental to me and I think that good design means being both functional and comfortable. With regard to innovation, I think there are many ways to approach it, but staying true to your style and being authentic in what you do seems to me to be a way of innovating in itself.
Hand-painted artisan pieces, we create our own collection of hand-modelled clay.
I like to transport myself to those eternal summers of my childhood, or to imagine how my ancestors would have lived that simple but hard life in the countryside.
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