Aitor Throup Talks 'The Hunger Games', New Object Research and 'The Rite of Spring'

Brought up in the North of England and responsible for the helming of projects for C.P. Company, Stone Island, Kasabian, Damon Albarn and the redesign of England’s Umbro kit in 2009, you’d be forgiven for thinking you have the measure of Aitor Throup. His CV, to this point and from a distance, reads like that of any other Northern British creative. A healthy sprinkling of football, mixed with a touch of post-Brit Pop lairiness and just enough creative clout to capture the attention of those beyond realms of the terraces, Pyramid stage and public houses that form the holy triumvirate of male working class culture, suggests that our chat will be entertaining and perhaps informative, but entirely predictable. Within seconds I am proven wrong.

Over a crackling phone line linked to Amsterdam, where the RCA graduate is occupied with day-long meetings, the Buenos Aires-born, Burnley-raised artist, designer and creative director sheds refreshing and youthful light on his indefinable trade. Reflecting on his recent Generali Special Award at the ITS (International Talent Support) in Trieste, his role in the costume design for the dramatic finale of the Hunger Games franchise, the launch of his studio’s online gallery and his growth as an artist and designer, Throup is an exciting beacon of hope in a sea of self-proclaimed creative directors and creatives of lesser credibility and talent.

New Object Research, Throup’s exciting ready-to-wear brand that launched back in 2013, was the work that announced both his military-inspired fashion-forward aesthetic and ambitious nature to the world proper. Capitalising on the success that he had garnered with more established brands, it was this debut collection that would allow him to strike out and begin to take on more ambitious and outlandish projects away from the realm of well-constructed jackets. “I always approach projects in a very personal, very honest way”  he explains of more recent successes, “I have established in me a philosophy that anything is possible and that’s just my nature. We did the headline slot for Kasabian at Glastonbury last year, which was a huge large-scale challenge in front of 220,000 people. Nobody had ever done it before and we built this transforming stage that created this huge minimalist cube. It proved to us that scale doesn’t really matter and ideas can exist in any scale as long as you’re true to yourself.”

It is with long-time friend and collaborator, Kasabian’s Sergio Pizzorno, that Throup has decided to launch his new online portfolio. Through a photographic series entitled The Rite Of Spring, the artist has explored the themes and motifs that have formed his young career. Sergio takes centre stage. “The shoot we have done with Serge shows a couple of things. Right when I started sculpting, or shooting pictures, or making films, it was a need. I needed to explore my tools to tell stories. With The Rite Of Spring, I had all these visuals that I needed to photograph and I just had to do it myself” says Throup, “There were too many intricacies to communicate, so true to form I just picked up the camera and figured it out. This highlights the fact that our studio, and when working on the projects that we do, just make the things that are meant to happen, happen.”

“At the same time, it was a very expressive piece for myself” he adds, confidence ever-present in his voice regardless of subject or gravitas of statement, “It came about after a real creative realisation that I had, where I realised that I didn’t have to be burdened by concepts that I had used before. I learned to communicate new ideas that weren’t part of that concept or narrative, I realised that I had created a bigger concept. An overarching narrative for myself as a designer. I liberated myself creatively. The more I look at that photoshoot now, it is more of a self-portrait, it’s about the old me and the new me. Serge is basically me in the photographs.”

So what of The Hunger Games? A project seemingly so far removed from Throup’s comfort zone that it couldn’t simply be explained away, or fit into the grand narrative that he is building. It turns out, after careful consideration that he has no comfort zone and the narrative is flexible depending on the project. “My theory didn’t become different because of the scale of the project, we just approached it the same way as we always do” he explains calmly, “I just think it was a smart decision by the overarching costume department of the film to approach me to design some of the uniforms. There needed to be an inherent authenticity and the combat uniforms had to look real. They needed to stay true to the book and they needed to look utilitarian, functional, forward-thinking and futuristic but believable. Working on this was great, because they were constantly pushing for authenticity, but at the same time looking for ideas that could redefine how we look at stuff like this.”

With this Throup gets called away for another meeting and a picture builds of a man in control of his own destiny in all forms beside schedule. Our chat is brief, but he leaves few questions unanswered. A true creative and artist, who is perhaps unfairly pinned in as a menswear designer solely on the strength of his previous achievements, Aitor Throup is capable of amazing things. From Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage to big-screen adaptations of bestselling sci-fi books and from the football terraces of Burnley to autobiographical, conceptual photoshoots that explore themes of death and rebirth, he can turn his hand and creative eye to a diverse range of subject matter. Unlike his contemporaries there is no simple selection of colorways and curation of personal branding here. He is hands-on. Long may it continue.

Head here to check out A.T. Studio’s new online gallery and the full The Rite of Spring photographic series.