Laurent Tardy is born in the late Sixties. At the end of his studies at Art School a traffic accident forces him to put his professional life aside for 8 years. After this period, Laurent starts his career with “Atelier Roland Jéol” collaborating in workshops and specialising in “stage-lighting” to enhance architectural projects. This partnership still allows Laurent to work regularly on development projects including roman archeological sites, and in cities such as Geneva, Rotterdam, Havana or the Strait of the Bosphorus.
Laurent uses this experience from this initial career to create considerable atmosphere to his narrative illustrations by paying careful attention to the use of light to set the scene.
After a project not able to be published by Nord-Sud, and after the release of several book covers with Magnard publishing and with Didier publishing, Laurent’s first two books « À la hauteur » and « Un autre chemin » come out in 2007 and are then republished in 2012 and 2013 by Bilboquet Publishing. These two republished works are preceded by « L’île aux fleurs » – first published in 2010 by Bilboquet Publishing. The book signifies the start of the collaboration between Laurent and Bilboquet – a relationship built on trust which allows Laurent to experiment with illustrative narratives. It is a fruitful collaboration culminating not only in the annual release of a book written and illustrated by Laurent, but also the publishing of “revisited” classic fairy tales illustrated by Laurent.
When Laurent isn’t working on his latest publications, he visits schools in France, Switzerland and Canada and even Morocco, meeting pupils from the youngest at nursery level through to older pupils of primary or secondary school age. Laurent’s varied bibliography offers a selection of books which “people of all ages can enjoy” according to his editor. Laurent prefers to say that he is simply mindful of using the most appropriate narrative for the subject matter - and if there’s something for everyone then even better - a principle that Laurent tries to share with his students during regular masterclasses at Schools of Art in Switzerland. Finally, Laurent makes the most of his daily life in the Mont Blanc massif area of the Alps to get inspiration for his latest books…
To be continued….
