Ramón was the first Almeida to arrive in Latin America from his native Spain. Years later, Laura’s father was born in Ecuador, and she felt that Ramona “was a short name that sounded strong, was easy to remember, and evoked their roots.”
Ramona was born, perhaps, when Laura Almeida was just four or five years old. At that age, her Yugoslavian great-grandmother taught her to knit. “She was a genius at both crochet and knitting. Every Sunday, she would check on my progress as I knitted simple garments for my dolls or stuffed animals,” she recalled. Her great-grandmother passed away when Laura was nine, and that’s when she began taking private lessons “with a group of ladies.”
“It was always something I loved, but the truth is, I didn’t see it as a potential career path,” said the now-designer. “I lived in the moment and let myself be influenced by the careers everyone else thought they’d pursue. I went to a very competitive and demanding high school; studying design wasn’t an option. I didn’t make the decision until I finished high school—honestly, I couldn’t see myself enrolling in medical school.” She began preparing for the entrance exam to the Design Center but didn’t get in. “I was coming from such a fast-paced environment that I decided to enroll at ORT University and start my degree right away.”
Laura admits that it wasn't "easy at all" at first, especially given her father's attitude. "Then they saw my enthusiasm, my dedication, and my academic results, and they gradually came to accept it."
Design as a profession
“The program gave me a broad overview of everything you can do in fashion. And once you know what’s out there, you can make a choice,” she sums up. She said the first two years were very exploratory, and in the last two, “everything starts to make more sense.” While pursuing her bachelor’s degree in fashion design, she discovered a love for print design and channeled a passion she’d had since childhood—photography—into fashion.
When she was a senior, she decided to start her own business, “since it was impossible to work for a company eight hours a day if she wanted to finish her degree on time.” And her childhood hobby became Ramona, “a project that combines a technique as old as knitting with today’s contemporary society.”
Laura Almeida describes Ramona as “clothing with added design value and a personal touch that other products on the market don’t always have.”
She explains that her interest in wool stems from the fact that it is a sustainable raw material, with Uruguay ranking fifth in the world in wool exports for clothing. “This makes wool one of our main raw materials, renowned for its quality and softness. Uruguay’s wool-producing tradition and the sector’s specialization are internationally recognized, both for its export experience and for the level of equipment required and the excellent training of the workforce,” explains the professional. “Added to this are the endless possibilities in terms of design, since wonderful products can be created from a single fiber. Creativity is given free rein, without limits or constraints, while offering a soft, natural, sustainable, and high-quality product.”
Take the plunge into entrepreneurship
“Without start-up capital, it’s very difficult to make a living from a project like Ramona,” admitted Laura Almeida, who worked for two years at Sisi, first designing swimwear and bikinis, and later in the marketing department. “That last position sparked my desire to learn more, and combined with my constant drive for growth and change, I decided to go with a friend to study in Barcelona.” They studied Fashion Marketing and Communication at the Felicidad Duce School of Design and Fashion.
The final project focused on Ramona and new sales platforms to position the product internationally. At the same time, it was submitted to the Adolfo Domínguez Foundation, which selects one designer per week and offers them the opportunity to exhibit at the Flagship Store in Madrid. “I was selected and exhibited in August. It was a very rewarding experience because I had the opportunity to showcase my work abroad and make many contacts for the future.”
In 2011, Almeida received the Bronze Morosoli Award in the Design category for her personal venture. “That was a huge joy in my life. It was recognition of my work and effort, a push to keep going and believe that it’s possible.” She was a finalist in the fifth edition of Lúmina, and in March 2009, she received a special mention in the Louvre design competition “Six Centuries of Painting,” for which she won a trip to Paris. “These were incredibly enriching experiences on a personal level; they brought out my most creative side and allowed me to blend design with art. I don’t want these opportunities to be lost over time: there are young people who, out of laziness, don’t enter these kinds of competitions and don’t realize how important it is to set a challenge for oneself—challenges that also serve as a showcase to demonstrate what they’re capable of.”
“What I can say today, three years after graduating, is that just as you gradually define your personality in life, the same thing happens in your professional career,” she reflects. “At first, you do everything to experiment and try things out, but there comes a point when you become more selective and choose what you want to do and what you don’t. On the one hand, my work as a designer is still very much alive with Ramona, and on the other hand, I’m carving out a path in fashion communication and image—which is what I studied in Barcelona—and, combined with my love for art and photography, it makes me believe there’s a long road ahead, since it’s a vast and fairly new world.”