Nora Urkia Spring 2010MADRID, Oct 19, 2009 / — Entitled “Asphalt Jungle”, Nora Urkia used the familiar elements of an African safari and put them on urban silhouettes and thus creating a juxtaposition two jungles – the wild and the urbane, which incidentally are both very dangerous.

Proposing an urban collection of contrasted volumes, Urkia tries to show off and claim the volumes’ natural freedom with oversized garments and their repression through tighter garments. And with animalistic portraiture, the designer was able to create awareness of its beauty and liberty.

A native of Bergara (Guipúzcoa), Nora Urkia Berroya holds a degree in Fashion Design, and received the highest marks in her class, at the Advanced School of Design (ESDi) at the Universidad Ramón Llull in Sabadell and the University of Southampton.

Likewise, from 1991 through 1999 she studied basic music and harmonics at the Bergara School of Music. She later completed studies in Physics and the University of the Basque Country.

In 2006, she worked as a design artist for the short-subject film “Partida,” directed by Anna Koskela, and in 2008 she did an internship at the firm Martin Lamothe.

In 2008, she won the Book T Project organized by Modafad for the best end-of-university project. She took part in the fashion show Degree Show in South Korea, organized by the Duksung Women’s University and she received the Degree Show award for the most notable collection in accordance with criteria of sustainability.

She also participated in a style design competition for Nike Sportswear and was chosen to take part in the Bread & Butter Design Graduation Tour.

Similarly, in 2008 she won the first prize given out by the company Zara Woman, and the company Stradivarius, and the second prize awarded by the company Massimo Dutti and the company Bershka, all for projects completed at the ESDi in Sabadell.

In March 2009, as the winner of Modafad 2008, she presented her collection and took part as an exhibitor at the Showroom of the 080 Barcelona Fashion Week.

In May of this same year, she was awarded first prize in the women’s category of the Creamoda competition held at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre (BEC) in Bilbao.