Celebrity wedding dress designer Manuel Mota, 46, found dead in suspected suicide

Celebrity wedding dress designer Manuel Mota, 46, found dead in suspected suicide

• Spanish designer, 46, designed wedding dresses for likes of Doutzen Kroes 
• Died at his Barcelona home - cause of death not yet confirmed
  
• Mota's fashion house said it had lost 'a great artist'

By Bianca London

PUBLISHED: 10:09 EST, 10 January 2013 | UPDATED: 14:19 EST, 10 January 2013

Tragic: Spanish dress designer Manuel Mota has died at the age of 46

Manuel Mota, a Spanish dress designer specialising in bridal gowns for top models and high society, has died at the age of 46.

Mota had been the creative director of Spanish fashion company Pronovias for the past 23 years, helping to build the family business into a world brand for wedding dresses.

The fashion house said in a statement that Mota died at his home near Barcelona yesterday.

It did not give the cause of death.

Australian model Miranda Kerr and Israeli model Bar Rafaeli appeared on the catwalks in Mota's bridal creations.

Mota also designed the celebrated dress of Dutch supermodel Doutzen Kroes for her 2010 wedding.

Modesto Lomba, president of Spain's Association of Fashion Designers, predicted that Mota's ideas and dress patterns would one day be studied at design schools.

'He's a reference for wedding fashion worldwide,' Lomba said in a statement.

'His work will endure in historical studies.'

Spanish model Ariadne Artiles, who wore a dress from Mota's bridal collection at her own wedding, paid tribute to Mota, saying the designer was always incredibly patient with women's dress demands.

Bridal designs: He designed for the liked of Irina Shayk who poses in one of his designs

'I remember many fun times when I asked him for the impossible and he made it easy,' she said on Twitter.

'He was a delightful man, good-looking, fun to be with and one of the most sensitive men I've ever met.'

Famous friends: He designed Doutzen Kroes' wedding dress and Miranda Kerr walked in his shows

Mota's fashion house said it had lost a great artist.

'The Pronovias family has lost one of its dearest members. We will keep the memories of so many collections, so many catwalks, so much effort, so much talent and so many dreams shared by all,' its statement said.

Tributes: Tributes flooded in on Twitter to the late designer