Trampolín aims to democratise the creative industries by giving all people equal opportunity to realise their creative potential
Words by Sonia Zhuravlyova
The Spanish city of Valencia, World Capital of Design for 2022, has been at the forefront of design and innovation for some time. As part of its recent celebrations, the city has supported Trampolín, a platform through which people with a learning disability and professional creatives come together to work on design projects.
‘The initiative is based on the ideas that everybody is creative if they are trained to be and that people with a learning disability, thanks to the way they look at the world, have a great deal to contribute to the creative industry in fields such as advertising, illustration or design,’ says Trampolín co-founder Javier La Casta of Nectar, an interactive design studio.
With several successful sessions, called Colabs, behind them, there are more planned for the future. ‘The main thing we try to communicate is that anyone can be creative if we train. Therefore, we mainly work on creative processes,’ explains co-founder Yvette García, who is a dancer by training.
‘We focus on design concepts, colours, shapes, compositions, we talk about artists, designers, we visit museums. And we also learn a lot from each other, we share experiences, we discuss design and life itself.’
Design studios and professionals such as Gimeno Gràfic, Luis Demano, Milimbo, Joan Quirós and Marta Pina are some of those who have already joined Trampolín to co-create and design pieces in the training sessions.
‘So far we have created a label for Zeta Beer, published a book that explains in an accessible way how designers work, and have run design workshops with refugees in museums,’ says La Casta.
‘The experience with Trampolín has been really interesting,’ adds Manuel Fuentes, master brewer and founding partner of Zeta Beer.
‘Seeing their work become a real product for the first time has been an exciting experience for Colab participants.’
Photography courtesy of Trampolín
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