Manuel Portillo

Designer and photographer

Manuel Portillo Alcalde was born in Granada on April 7, 1952. When he was two years old, his father, a lawyer specializing in Administrative Law in the Civil Government, was transferred to Murcia.

His childhood was spent in the neighborhood of Vistabella, in the bosom of a large family of six siblings. They returned to Granada and in 1964 they returned to Murcia. He moved to Madrid at the age of 19 to study Physics and do theater, becoming part of the company “Espectáculos Ibéricos”. Manolo’s family spent the summers in Águilas and it is there that he meets another holidaymaker, Mª José del Sol. After their wedding in Madrid at the age of 23, they moved to Murcia in 1979 where they opened a studio, Forma, together with their brother Pablo Portillo, an architecture student. His beginnings are works for the paprika and graphic arts industries, encompassing design and photography.

One of his first commissions is the “Guía de Artesanía de Murcia“, directed by Manuel Luna, a project that allows him to travel around the region photographing all the different artisan trades of the time, some of them now disappeared. He also makes, together with his brother, some iconic eighties posters made for the September Fair.

Other works of that time were the “Regional Architecture Awards”. Together with Eduardo Saro he worked as a photographer on various projects.

In 1989 he founded the Portillo & del Sol studio together with his partner Mª José del Sol, providing comprehensive image and communication services (Corporate Design, Editorial Design, Brand and Packaging Design, Photography, Electronic and Online Publishing, Web Design, Multimedia Publications on CD-ROM, Illustration).

In those years, his work developed for Alvalle stands out, the creation of its graphic identity, website, packaging and all the development of communication until the sale of the company to Pepsico, continuing his collaboration until 2014.

Of the editorial works of the studio, titles such as “Memoria de Arqueología”, the “Ibn Arabí” collection, “History of Spanish Cartooning”, the “Imagen” collection stand out (monographs on José Sacristán, Oscar Mariné, Maribel Verdú, José Crespo…), the“Gran Enciclopedia de la Región de Murcia” edited by Ayalga Ediciones and magazines such as “Letragorda”, edited by the Cultural Association for the Promotion of Reading, under the graphic line made by Severo Almansa, the magazine “Boca a boca”, by Juventud, under the artistic direction of Ángel Mateo Charris, the magazine “Balance”, edited by Miguel Olivares or the catalogue “La fiesta del Lago”, on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of Seville in 1992.

Important clients of those years are Alimentos del Valle, Pepsico Iberia, Chamber of Commerce of Murcia, the CARM, Editora Regional, Filmoteca Regional Francisco Rabal, Fundación Séneca, the SEF, the University of Murcia, Cajamurcia, Instituto de Fomento, Heraclio Fournier and Normatex.

Manuel remembers from the 80s the figure of José Manuel Garrido as a great cultural manager. Now retired, he continues to nurture his passion for photography as well as his collection of more than 40 cameras.

Portillo & Del Sol continued to be active until 2019

………
Interview conducted by
Pilar Larrotcha

May 2024

1987
Poster
Manuel and Pablo Portillo
September Fair

September Fair

1991
Magazine cover
Word of mouth

1992
Cover
The lake party

1987
Magazine cover
POSTSCRIPT

Paragraph Time

Cover
Paragraph Time

Merchandising Alvalle

Merchandising
Fan The garden at home

3D Pack

Packaging
Alvalle

Cover
Spain and its Folklore Festivals

Magazine cover
Learn

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