Pilar del Sol Cortés - Memoria del Diseño

Pilar
del Sol
Cortés

Madrid, 1960

Graphic designer

Pilar del Sol was one of those girls from Madrid who came to the Region of Murcia for the summer when our autonomy was still far from being conceived and even less so in its uniprovincial format.

The whole family moved to Águilas every summer: his father, a mathematician; his mother, a housewife; her sister María José, six years older than her, and three more siblings.

In the telephone conversation we had to make this profile, Pilar, who went to live in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1997 and whom I do not know personally, told me that she studied Graphic Arts in Madrid in the early 80s and that it was at the end when, following in the footsteps of her sister, he came to live in Murcia for a few years.

Among his childhood and youth friends, many people from the cultural background: Manuel Portillo, who is now his brother-in-law – he and María José married in Madrid and together founded, in Murcia, the design studio Portillo & del Sol – and his siblings, Pablo Portillo and Ángeles Portillo. And Eduardo Saro, with whom she was a partner.

And other people who she mentions excitedly and in a hurry, such as the screen printer Pepe Albacete, another great friend, and Pepe Franco, Ángel Fernández Saura, Faustino Fernández and his wife at the time, Debla Orihuela,… And also Flaviano Roda (Flavi), one of the founders of Servicios Gráficos Formato, a prepress company whose first headquarters were on Torretas Street and through which almost all the graphic designers of that time, the “Letraset” generation, passed.

On the other hand, I have learned that Pilar’s creation was the original design of “Postdata”, a magazine of art, letters and thought that was born monthly, in 1986, went on to be published every two months, then every quarter and finally ceased to be periodical. Printed first in Novograf and then in Joaquín Valls, notable Murcian poets and essayists wrote in it. It was directed by Antonio Parra Pujante in all its stages and lasted until 2004.

Longing for the manual aspects of the craft of composing typical of the analogue world, she confesses to being quite tired of the computer and defends the importance of transmitting the experience to those who come and sharing skills with them.

Looking for new professional challenges, Pilar del Sol met Roberto Turégano, the renowned designer from Cuenca based in Madrid, and in 1987 she joined his studio, where she worked for clients such as the Jazz Festival, the Cibeles Catwalk and many other institutions and events related to culture.

This stage in Madrid lasted ten years, a work that he combined with collaborations in Murcia, such as that of the Spanish Film Week, an annual event whose magazine, directed by the photographer and editor Paco Salinas, was held simultaneously with the celebration, which involved layout and printing at night. The designers María José del Sol, Ángeles Portillo and Teresa Arnal also collaborated in it, depending on the years.

In Madrid he met Juan Montero Gómez, a philosopher by career, interested in African culture and an art gallery owner. In 1997 they made a trip together to several of the Canary Islands and decided to move permanently to Las Palmas. And there they set up Idafe Estudio, taking the name of a rock that is in the vicinity of the Las Calderas de Taburiente National Park.

In the Canary Islands, Pilar has fully integrated and has exercised her profession as a graphic and editorial designer, making reports for hospitals and the major fairs of the islands, for Astilleros de Canarias, all the graphics of the Cuyás Theatre in Las Palmas and many other island clients.

Longing for the manual aspects of the craft of composing typical of the analogue world – cutting, pasting, etc. – she confesses to being quite tired of the computer and defends the importance of transmitting the experience to those who come and sharing skills with them.

In the last contact we had by videoconference, she promised to send us a current portrait and a selection of significant works to get to know her better. And so he did, completing the shipment, a year later, with a video for “EMCUENTRO”, the activity we organized in January 2025 at Finca San Antonio. In it she greeted us, very happy, dancing and toasting to her new retirement. Chinchín, Pilar!

………
Teresa Jular spoke with Pilar del Sol in 2024, finishing this text in March 2025.

2023 – 2024
Posteris
Cuyás Theater