Tamara K. Lloyd-Cox reckons that she’s been painting for as long as she can remember. She does so with exciting expressiveness, geometric patterns and vibrant colors that give shape to Asian motifs – where her roots go back to – but also inspired by nature – the sea and the mountains – of Mallorca, the island where she was born and raised.
Her house, right in the centre of Valldemossa, houses her works, which decorate the walls in a sort of domestic and cheerful museum, a hall to a studio located on the top floor. Overlooking the town's most iconic alleys, now filled with tourists and curious onlookers, Tamara's creativity expands here in the form of two projects that nurture each other: Coconut Tam and The Coco Wear.
For a few years now, Tamara has been transferring her illustrations to textiles in a jovial and carefree exercise, but executed with excellent taste, because painting is her way of expressing herself and relaxing. 'I studied fashion design in Barcelona and wanted to be a designer until I found the world of print, which allowed me to unite my two passions: art and fashion'.
'I always escape from winter, I need the sun a lot and I wanted to make clothes for that time of year'.
From the encounter between two predilections that she loves, both projects were born at the same time when the artist discovered that, although a priori she drew for herself, she could apply her paints to textiles. 'I was so obsessed with being able to apply drawings on paper and textiles that I began to investigate shapes, symbols and elements', she says, while trying to put words to her style, her aesthetic, which has a lot to do with her father. He had always supported her, she confesses, so in drawing she found a way to express, after his death, the gratitude she felt, and to honour his figure 'as if it were a personal diary'.
In the beginning, Tamara's mother and partner were the only lucky ones who had access to her work, but letting it be glimpsed, little by little, on social networks, she began to receive praise and soon her first exhibition arrived. It was a series inspired by mass tourism but from a funny, perhaps somewhat ironic vision, which sold out in its entirety. The path, then, became clearer than ever.
Suns, tigers and marine elements are the protagonists of Coconut Tam's drawings and The Coco Wear's pieces which are eminently summery and obey the essence of someone who flees from the cold by nature. 'I always escape from winter, I need the sun a lot and I wanted to make pieces for that time of year'.
'Slow fashion interests more and more people every day, especially when you know what is behind it. There is a change'.
Young, fresh and timeless, the garments are made in workshops in Spain with which Tamara maintains a close relationship and works hand in hand, and the materials chosen are always organic, a decision consistent with her way of understanding fashion that, she acknowledges, went from love to hate for a long time, unable to match the frenetic calendar that the fast fashion system professes. A bet, hers, that she believes is increasingly popular. 'Slow fashion interests more and more people every day, especially when you know what is behind it. There is a change', she says convinced.
Although she was born in Santa Ponça, Tamara has lived in several cities since she went to Barcelona to pursue her university studies. However, her connection to the island has always been intense and palpable. 'I didn't live here for twelve years, but I needed to catch a flight and come back. Escape from the city'. Now, based in one of the most beautiful villages in the Serra de Tramuntana, she has teamed up with her neighbours in Barbaflorida in the opening of a new premises, 'a space where you can drink specialty tea and be able to buy clothes and art pieces'. In addition, in recent months, she has been working together with Suite 13 LAB and Mariacastaña on projects that, without revealing any details yet, will see the light of day in 2025.
Although her gaze is somewhat shy and her pose discreet, Tamara manages to convey her passion when she talks about the future, which she sees 'doing what she likes to do: painting and continuing with fashion, betting on what is mine. To be my own boss’. A desire for freedom that infects her illustrations and her pieces thanks to an embrace – enthusiastic and colorful – between art and fashion. Hopefully it will continue to be like this for many summers to come.
