Philosophy and illustration

Pep Montserrat is a Catalan illustrator based in Barcelona, who has combined his profession as an illustrator with the teaching of the specialty in the CFGS and the pedagogical coordination of the illustration postgraduate course at the Escola Massana. Since 1988 he has been the author of illustrations for children`s and young adult books, some of which have been published in countries in Europe, America and Asia.

Between 1998 and 2018 he was a regular contributor to national and international written press in headers such as La Vanguardia, El País, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe or The National of Abu Dhabi among others.

He has also collaborated on several occasions with the Tv3 children´s program “Una mà de contes” creating the images for more than a dozen episodes. Among the most outstanding awards he has received throughout his career are the Ministry of Culture in 1995, the Catalònia in 1997 and the Junceda in 2004,
2009 and 2017. In addition, from 2006 to 2011 his works were part of the annual exhibition of the Society of Illustrators in New York, where in 2008 he was awarded the Certificate of Merit. In 2024 he was awarded the National Illustration Award.

EN. I was born in Barcelona in 1979. Ghost was still several years away, but when I was a child, I wanted to be a sculptor and artist. It seems that Demi Moore copied my idea, but I didn´t care because the smell of wood that I felt every day in the family business made me change my mind. I don`t know if so, much varnish affected me, but I started studying Industrial Design Technical Engineering and Industrial Design at the Elisava school and all this while working in my family`s furniture factory. It was the beginning of a constant in my life: a lot of design and a lot of dreaming.

After finishing my studies, I started my professional career in different studios in Barcelona and Milan: GTP Architects and Engineers, Design between 4 Walls, Torres Decoration, Studio Marco Piva and Conte Oggioni Partners. It took me some time to realize that the time had come to get involved in a project that had a more personal flavor. In addition, I take care of the design of the magazine FILOSOFÍA & CO, that creates a portal of thought and philosophy and publish a printed magazine where they illustrate and share interviews, ideas, and contributions of the great thinkers of all times.

Raquel Martínez Uña is co-founder of the publishing house Wonder Ponder and co-director of the International Course on Philosophy, Literature, Art and Childhood (FLAI). The publishing house Wonder Ponder, specialising in philosophy and children's literature, has been generating wonder and curiosity for ten years, provoking questions and a desire to explore possible answers. The FLAI course has been held since 2017 in Albarracín (Teruel) and every year it proposes four interdisciplinary and international speakers to reflect on a central question from the perspective of philosophy, literature, art and education