Photography Daniela Doe
Tell us a bit yourself? Who is Elleonor?
ELLEONOR is the pseudonym of Leonor. I was born in Porto in 1993 and grew up there. Since my childhood I have had a special connection with visuals and arts. I remember the subjects that I liked the most were visual education, music ... at home I remember loving to do experiments with various materials from paper to food and I loved to do theaters and dance shows.
I never knew what I wanted to do but I knew it would be in the field of art. I did the high school at Árvore, a vocational school in Porto, where I studied 3D digital design (which was like architecture) and then finally on the last year I found that what I really wanted to be was a Graphic Designer. I think curiosity and exploration of various areas, media, and materials have always been my doors to a thousand paths.
What is the source of your inspiration? Where do you draw your inspiration from?
That’s a very deep question for me… I think my inspirations are quite abstract and sometimes unconscious. They are all that I absorb from my daily life, nature, travel, people, senses, errors. I have a strong connection with the power of color, textures, light, composition and shape.
How or why did you start your project/ brand?
I started in July of 2014, when I finished college and I didn't know what to do at the time… In a coincidence, I was a Guest Artist at Creative Camp in Abrantes in the same year. Where I explored several things that were more focused on urban art and illustration, and that's how everything started… quite unintentionally.
What have been the best moment/greatest milestones/achievements in your career so far?
It's very hard to pick one, everything was special so far... I recently attended at Festival Iminente, where I was challenged to create a large-scale installation/ performance, curated by Under Dogs for the activation of the Rvca brand. It was the first time I had the opportunity to explore a large-scale composition.
Then in the textile area, I collaborated with The Board, a Portuguese brand of shirts. Where I explored color and pattern in a more geometric and abstract way, diversifying from the standards set by the brand. Still following this collaboration, for the launch of this special Shirts Collection I developed an installation for the storefront of Early Made store in Porto.
In the creation of patterns projects I worked in different mediums, I collaborated with the brand Oioba, Beatriz Bettencourt, Mishmash, Je Jewelry, Axon studio, among others.
In graphic design, an important project was at the Rock School in Paredes de Coura, where I developed their identity in 2015 and work with them until now.
And then I make posters, music covers, photography books, illustrations,...
What have been the best lessons you have learned in your career so far?
A good communication is always on top of everything. Working with other people is very important, collaborations give the chance to show our work to different public with diverse interests, otherwise people don't know I exist.
“When you do what you love, it is no longer considered work”.
Where do you prefer to work?
I need the right atmosphere and a lot of space, because of that, I prefer to work in my studio.
Can you describe how your art feels?
Experimental, graphic, colorful, multidisciplinary, sensory
What role color plays in your work?
Color is one of the bases of my work that comes in a very intuitive way. I am addicted to contrasts and balance.
Tell us about your upcycling work?
I think upcycling was always present in my working process, but in an unconscious way. I always think about and have ideas of how to develop something else from anything that is leftover from some work of mine.
Recently with this amount of environmental manifestos happening, I became more aware and I decided to focus more on this practice. Not in an obsessive way, but I'm happy with the little role I play. I try to use as many leftovers as I can, whether it is leftovers of paper, packaging, fabric, other people's stuff. WASTE. I love almost all kinds of material and especially shiny, translucent and weird ones. Plastic is one of these materials and it is a big topic nowadays. In my work, I can give to it another life.
In addition to not having such a big investment, upcycling is a challenge that I constantly fall in love with, working with what is in front of me… transforming, deconstructing ... and finally, always creating UNIQUE things!
Can you describe your relationship with clothes?
My relationship with clothes I think is a dualism. In a way, I think it's part of each one's identity, used to express and communicate, often in an exaggerated way. On the other hand, I often think that clothing is simply for protection, a functional side only. The beautiful thing is knowing how to balance things because otherwise we get into fashion consumerism, lack of identity and so on.