Lara Costafreda: roots that draw the world

Lara Costafreda’s journey is that of a creator who has managed to transform the sensitivity of her roots into a visual language recognised by some of the world’s most important luxury houses. Her strokes – both organic and poetic – turn nature into symbolism, fashion into dialogue and art into commitment. We spoke with the illustrator about her roots and her project for La Roca Village.

How would you describe Lleida in three words?
Brave, austere and very sincere. What you see is what you get.

Lleida is a land of austere beauty, where creativity still retains its purest, most authentic state. Do you share this vision?
I don’t know if I’d speak of anything more authentic, but I do feel that creators from Lleida always return to it in everything we do. There’s a part of creation that comes from within and I believe that has to do with roots. It’s evident when you see works by someone from New York, Chihuahua, or Marrakech. In Lleida’s case, perhaps there isn’t yet a very clear ‘brand DNA,’ but those roots are there, latent, like a pulse that runs through what we create.

You grew up in a rural environment. How has this shaped your way of creating?

I wasn’t aware of how much it had shaped me until I began drawing. During my studies, I failed the drawing class. I decided to go to Brazil and there, almost without thinking, I began drawing wild and exuberant vegetation. Years later, I understood why: I drew nature because it was my way of returning to my purest essence, to those days in the forest and dryland fields. That’s how my style started to take shape: from landscapes and plants from many parts of the world, but always connected to that first root. And always with a touch of simplicity, which has to do with Lleida's austerity.

In what way do the local landscape and culture become inspiration?

When I walk down the street or through the countryside, I always look at plants; they attract me almost hypnotically. In the dryland area of Lleida, where I grew up, the vegetation has something special. It doesn’t demand attention, but it’s incredibly beautiful. This year, with the rains, I’ve seen flowers again that I hadn’t seen since I was small. That discretion and that strength at the same time inspire me greatly. There’s also an intimate, emotional link: I lived many years with my grandmother, who had a devotion to plants. Drawing them connects me to her.

You’ve lived in Barcelona, London, Paris, Brazil… how is that journey reflected in your current outlook?

At 17, I left Lleida with a single goal: to leave Lleida. I wanted to explore the world, to see what lay beyond my immediate circle – I come from a town of 300 people – but I had no idea what to study. I began fashion almost by chance. I signed up for a course at Central Saint Martins and worked in London Fashion Week: it was amazing. I worked with designers in Barcelona, took part in Paris Fashion Week, and then went to Rio de Janeiro, where I finished my degree. Later, I returned to Barcelona, with breaks in Santiago de Chile, Greece, Geneva and Buenos Aires. And how is all that reflected in my current outlook? In everything. My roots are in Lleida, but my heart is in the world. Travelling and living in different cities has made me the person I want to be: aware of the luck I had being born in a privileged context and also with the enormous responsibility of using my time to contribute, even if just a little, to reducing those inequalities.

You currently live in Sudanell. What does it mean for you to be able to work from a small town in Lleida?

When I returned, I thought it would be for a short time, but it has been quite the opposite. After many years in hostile cities, returning to the town where I know everyone has been magical. I love this connection: caring for my neighbours, building community, creating things together. At the same time, Sudanell is my base camp. I move around a lot for work and activism. Thanks to the internet, I’m connected to the world. There are days when I spend hours working on a project for Shanghai, then a meeting for another project in Paris, while answering an email from Chile, and suddenly I take a break to help a neighbour get a cat out of her kitchen. 

In your work for La Roca Village, starlings appear. Why these birds?

The project is a tribute to Lleida and starlings are very characteristic birds around here. In school, we used to collect the olive pits that they dropped in the playground, so they’re part of my childhood memories. When you see them flying in flocks, drawing shapes in the sky, it’s one of the most beautiful spectacles of nature. It seemed a perfect image to speak of community, roots and shared beauty.

Beyond fashion, La Roca Village supports creative talent, with a special commitment to local female voices. What does this collaboration represent for you?

The work La Roca Village has been doing for years seems incredible to me. It’s nothing obvious that a shopping destination dedicates so much effort to support local creators – and even less from Lleida – so I’m very grateful to be part of this group of wonderful creators whom you’ve invited over the years. Also, I love drawing houses. In fact, when I was small, I always drew colourful houses with many windows and my mother framed them. After nature, it’s my second passion. That’s why drawing La Roca Village’s boutiques – which are themselves dreamlike – has been a real pleasure.

Your project for La Roca Village starts from a reinterpretation of toile de jouy fabric. Tell us about your creative process?

I love toile de jouy because it represents scenes of everyday life, full of hidden details. It’s similar to my style, because I don’t conceive illustration in a linear way: I never make sketches, nor do I know beforehand how a piece will turn out. I draw elements separately and then compose them in Photoshop, like collage pieces. That lets me build scenes that could never exist in reality. In this project, I followed the same process: I illustrated elements of La Roca Village and then combined them in small scenes. It means objects and elements that in reality would never coincide here coexist naturally, creating a world of their own that connects with the spirit of the place.

How would you describe your style in a few words?

A love letter to nature. A dreamlike universe full of nature, colour and sensitivity, halfway between the real and the imagined.

What is fashion for you nowadays and how does it cross with your visual language?

For me, fashion is a language, a way of saying who we are and how we want to inhabit the world. I don’t understand it so much from the garment but from the narrative and imagery it builds around it. In that sense, it intersects with my work as an illustrator: I, too, build visual universes that speak of identity, roots and dreams.

Over the years, you’ve collaborated with some of the world’s most influential luxury brands. What does it mean for you to pour all that experience into a project tied to your roots? 

Working with luxury brands has been an enormous learning experience; it allowed me to understand processes, the demands and the power of large scale visual communication. Being able to now put all that experience at the service of a project tied to my roots is even more special. Working from the local, from my land and my memory, gives me a different sense of fulfilment: it’s like closing a circle. After years of looking outward, returning to Lleida and creating from here – with what I am and what shaped me – is a gift.

In times of Artificial Intelligence, where does human art’s emotion and authenticity reside?

Artificial Intelligence can generate spectacular images, but the emotion of human art is not only in the result, but in the process. In fragility, in the mistake that becomes a discovery, in the memory and experiences that permeate every stroke. Authenticity lies in what cannot be programmed: in the unique way we look at the world and how that gaze becomes art.

How is your activism reflected in your work and in your understanding of artistic creation?

For me, creating has never been purely an aesthetic matter: it’s a way of positioning oneself in the world. My commitment to society is reflected both in my work and in the projects I support, especially through the volunteer design work I’ve been doing for years in initiatives for social transformation; like the Volem Acollir campaign, which in 2017 promoted, among other things, Europe’s largest demonstration in favour of welcoming refugees during the war in Syria. Art, communication and design can be tools to open conversations, make realities visible and build more just futures.

Female voices are essential in contemporary art and fashion. How important is it for you to make female talent visible?

For me, it’s essential not only to give visibility to female voices but to all identities and genders that, historically, have been excluded from the dominant narrative. It’s not just a matter of justice, but of enriching the present with diverse perspectives that expand and transform our way of understanding art and fashion.

Sustainability and social consciousness are at the centre of the current creative conversation. What is the role of a creative?

A creative cannot work with their back to the world. Our role goes far beyond making something beautiful: we have the responsibility to ask ourselves what impact our creations generate, what messages they convey and what future they are helping to draw. Art and design are powerful languages, capable of moving us and transforming. Using them consciously – with sustainability, social justice and diversity – is, for me, an essential part of our work as creators.