Jordi Labanda was born in Mercedes in Uruguay to Catalan parents, but has lived in Barcelona since he was three. He studied industrial design in the city and began his career as a commercial illustrator in 1993, with a style inspired by the fashion illustrations of the fifties and sixties, 19th-century French portrait artists and very urban art.
His unique artistic talent is well-known both at home and abroad through the writing sets he developed jointly with Barcelona-based stationery manufacturer Miquel Rius, with whom the designer has produced an unmistakeable selection of diaries, wallets, cases and notebooks. He has also launched a range of ballpoint and fountain pens for Inoxcrom. His illustrations made a forceful entry into the world of cosmetics when Spanish label Zara turned the packs for its Textures Zara Collection fragrances into works of art signed by the artist.
Jordi Labanda has notched up a series of successes in the world of fashion too. His first sally into this territory came in the form of Jordi Labanda Handbags, in simple shapes and materials, but with original illustrations and colours endowing the collection with a special sophistication. The first collection of Jordi Labanda T-Shirts for the spring/summer 2005 season offers a series of versatile, highly feminine garments.
For more than a decade now, the illustrator has been working for the print media and Spanish readers will be familiar with his contributions to El Pais, La Vanguardia and the fashion magazines Marie Claire, Vogue and Elle. Abroad, he is equally well known, having worked for the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Visionaire, Wallpaper, Tatler, Spruce, W and Vogue America. He will shortly be publishing a book entitled Hey Day, a compendium of his very best press contributions.
Jordi Labanda’s career is illustrative of the decisive role played by the art of illustration in current-day communications and fashion. His creations are available in Europe, America, Australia and Japan.
