Made in Barcelona: "In fashion, doing something that sells but is beautiful and special at the same time is very difficult", Juanma by El Cuco

Photography: Natalia Garcia i Marina Corral

Juanma Granero is the designer of the brand Juanma by El Cuco. Art is very present in all his designs, but always adapted to clothes that can be dressed everyday. He confesses to be guided by his mood when creating, just this way he achieves a very personal and easy to identify style.

How would you define your brand?

The brand has evolved a lot. I started in 2008, with an aesthetic very focused to catwalks, to the image, forgetting the commerciality. The brand is so much more personal now. People from Barcelona who works in the fashion industry easily identifies my designs. My clothes have been adapted to a daily style, they are easier to wear.

Where have you studied? And why did you decide fashion?

I started my studies in the Llotja, the Escuela Superior de Diseño y Arte from Barcelona. I had a dilemma between art and fashion. I came from painting pictures and drawings. I have always loved to paint and I started doing drawings for Josep Font. But I also was very interested in learning to create clothes and with this restlessness I decided to course Estilismo e Indumentaria, and little later Patronaje Industrial. I got to put my two passions together, and this is what I do nowadays: I fuse art with fashion.

Are you working in any collection right now?

I’m about to present my next collection for the winter season 2014-2015.

This collection has a very sport style and it is mainly aimed to a young, dynamic public, one who loves travelling. It is all pretty eclectic and it mixtures a classic look with futuristic touch. For example, I have caught the typical commercial sweater and I have plasticized it with an oilskin tissue, specially created for rainy days. In general, I look for clothes which can be adapted to a daily use. I also play with contrasts and traditional prints: typical plaid mixed with wool.

Which things inspire you when creating?

More than an inspiration it is my mood what guides me when creating. Sometimes I’m inspired by trips. Something which has inspired this last collection, for example, is that I spent two months in Glasgow, Scotland, and I exported the influences like wool, plaids, patchwork, tissues extracted from the neckwear… from there. I also put the British atmosphere into the clothes; those grey days with not many light, the dark tonalities…

Do you plan expanding your brand?

I want to export my brand abroad. For the moment I’ve done some contacts in Belgium and Canada. I have also sols clothe online through Asos and Exhibit. There are important brands which are looking at my work, and I’m getting to the level of being able to commercialize my brand. And in fashion, doing something commercial which is beautiful and special at the same time is very difficult.

Do you have a favorite designer?

I like Belgian designers. I’ve always liked them. I don’t only pay attention to their style but also to the way they work. The way they see fashion, in which art and aesthetic expression wraps all their work. They forget about dressing people to adapt art to the body. My favorite designers are basically this ones, but I also pay attention to young designers who come out.

Any local one you like?

I like designers who are authentic with what they are living. I mean, that don’t distort and interpret other designers, other styles, environments… and take advantage of what they have closest to them. If I have to pick one, I’d say Miriam Ponsa, because she is a girl who takes her Catalan roots and works with people from ere. Her influence is very Catalan. I also like Josep Abril and Josep Font, with whom I worked for two years and has always been one of my favorite designers. Although more than to designers, I pay attention to collections, because you can like a collection but not the next one. Each collection is different.

How do you see the fashion scene?

I see it as I live it: with hope. We’re excited, wanting to do many things and making noise, although the support we receive is so little. We are given little helps if we talk about catwalks. Because although we are from a determined city and we have our workplace there, at the end of the day designers are artists and we don’t mind where the artist shows his paintings, if then he shows them to whom he has to.