DATA OF INTEREST

GUEST:
Carlos Zamora

HOST:
Julio Llópiz


Synopsis:

A conversation about contemporary Cuban and transnational design as an expression of cultural and political social reality.

Bio:

Carlos Zamora

Carlos Zamora is a creative director, visual strategist and illustrator. He is a design leader specialized in aligning commercial and brand strategies through iconic images, illustration and typographic excellence, from concept to creative execution. Zamora graduated from the Instituto de Diseño de La Habana (ISDi) in 2000 and worked for four years for prestigious cultural organizations in Havana, Cuba. His early professional experiences in Cuba included the Oficina de Restauración Histórica de La Habana Vieja, the Ballet Nacional de Cuba de Alicia Alonso, the Casa de las Américas, the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba and the cigar company Habanos SA. From 2000-2004 he worked as the art director of the magazines: Opus Habana, Gaceta de Cuba, Anales del Caribe, Cuba en el Ballet and Conjunto. His work in Havana includes magazines, book covers and posters.

He arrived to St. Louis in 2006 and briefly worked at the public relations firm FleishmanHillard, before joining Kiku Obata & Company, where he worked for seven years as a senior graphic designer. He also worked as Creative Director at Express Scripts, a Fortune 20 company that makes prescription medicine safer and more accessible. He is the former president of the AIGA St. Louis and currently works as a member of the board for the Airport Art Advisory Committee at the Lambert International Airport and the Tennessee Williams Festival. He enjoys poster design, Russian cartoons, propaganda art and cigars, Cuban or otherwise.

His illustrations have been published by The New York Times, New York Observer, The Boston Globe, Ad Age, American Lawyer, The Wall Street Journal, Alive and St. Louis Magazine. His work has won awards from American Illustration, 3x3 Illustration Annuals, Society of Illustrators and Creative Review. His Cinco de Mayo poster was included in LOS DIEZ, an itinerant art exhibit of the ten best Latin American illustrations of 2018. Communication Arts presented his work in Typography and Illustration Annuals 2017 and 2019. Among his recent collaborations is the Cafecito de Cuba Nespresso "Drink it all in” campaign.

VIDEO

Design: between novelty and common sense. Session II

PODCAST