Aitor Throup

Aitor Throup was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1980. He has also lived in Spain and moved to Burnley in England in 1992. It was in Burnley that Throup developed a passion for labels such as Stone Island and C.P. Company. It was a mixture of Aitor’s interest in these products and his own passion for drawing that led him to begin a BA in Fashion Design at

Manchester Metropolitan University, from where he graduated with first class honours in 2004. In 2006, he completed an MA Postgraduate Degree in Fashion Menswear at the Royal College of Art in London.

Aitor is fascinated with anatomy and his main interest is drawing. His hand drawn characters become the primary tool in the exploration of his ‘justified design philosophy’, which highlights the necessity of a reason or function behind all design features. Aitor's design process is centered around innovative methods of design and construction, in particular a construction process which utilises his own sculptures of the human body as a system for blocking garments. Throup’s graduate collection from the Royal College of Art was entitled‘When Football Hooligans Become Hindu Gods’ which had a strong narrative thread running through it and a diverse selection of influences from generic military garments to Hindu

symbolism. He exhibited ‘The Funeral Of New Orleans: Part One’, at London Fashion Week in September 2007. The presentation of this collection defied conventional ways of exhibiting fashion, by showing the pieces on life size sculptures (also created by Throup) rather than models, each in a different stage of transformation. The presentation also incorporated a film created in conjunction with SHOWstudio, which acted as a sort of animated instruction manual, allowing the viewer to not only understand the transformational mechanics of each piece, but also to learn the narrative behind the collection.

At ITS#FIVE (International Talent Support #5) Aitor won the Collection of The Year Award and the i-D Styling Award. He has also won awards from Levi’s, Umbro, Evisu and The Royal Society of Arts amongst others. He has worked as an Art director/stylist with i-D magazine,

Arena Homme+ and V-Man, and designed the cover for the December 2008 issue of Dazed and Confused Japan, which also included an 8-page portfolio of his work.

In 2008 Aitor collaborated on two special edition projects with Stone Island, which were presented at Milan Fashion Week: 'Modular Anatomy' (AW 08) and 'Articulated Anatomy' (SS

09). Aitor Throup began working as a creative consultant with the British football brand Umbro in 2008, which led to his involvement in the concept and design of the England football kit(launched in March 2009).

At the 2009 edition of Milan’s ‘Salone del Mobile’ international design fair, Aitor Throup and C.P. Company launched the special 20th anniversary edition of the iconic Goggle Jacket (A driving jacket originally designed by Massimo Osti in 1988). The re-design of this icon featured a fully ergonomic construction, based on a life-size sculpture of the human body in

the driving position. It also featured a unique transformational articulation built into the pockets, which allowed the jacket's structure to morph into a driving position when required.

In October 2009, a special exhibition at the Royal College of Art in London showcasing the process behind the design of the anniversary jacket, was curated by Aitor Throup.