Andrea Valentini (designer)
Andrea Valentini (Born and raised in Rhode Island, USA) graduated from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) 1995 with both Fine Arts and Bachelor Interior Architecture Degrees.
Upon graduation she and a colleague architect from RISD founded an interior architecture firm and she was recognized for her award winning designs for commercial and residential projects. Her interiors were custom down to the furniture and lighting and she would soon evolve from interiors to establish her own signature materials in which she would go on to produce finished furniture, furnishings and personal accessories.
In 2000 Andrea launched a series of successful furniture collections at the Providence Fine Furnishings fair and was juried into the NYICFF (New York International Contemporary Furniture Fair) in 2001, making a splash with her innovative use of upcycled materials into sculptural furniture and lighting. Her work was fresh and innovative using industrial materials like polyurethanes and ethylenes, sculpted into organic forms. The most outstanding piece to receive critical acclaim was her Coosh Egg Chair, A ball of high density foam cut from a block that breaks open into a chair and ottoman. This was awarded by Interior Design Magazine as one of their pics for their future furniture competition as well as being nominated for Best Product Design by the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. The Coosh Egg Chair is in the permanent collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
In 2002 she exhibited in Gifu, Japan with Yoshiko Ebihara and her work has appeared in galleries and museums in the US, Europe, and Asia.
In 2003 she was asked to submit a body of work to the Smithsonian National Design Museum Cooper-Hewitt for their National Design Triennial of which she was chosen among 80 American designers to exhibit in 2003, Inside Design Now.
In 2005 she developed a signature sculptural textile from a process of fusing and molding fabrics with foams into textures which are sensual yet protective and durable. Her innovative materials were selected to be among material libraries such as Material Connexion in NY and abroad Scin in London and Materia in Amsterdam. The Museum of Modern Art asked her to design a computer bag for their stores, using her material patented with a convoluted structure. In 2006 she exhibited in Second Skin with Ellen Lubton in Essen, Germany, Japan and Mexico.
In 2007 she launched her first collection of lifestyle bags for women and men. In addition to bags, Valentini has successful jewelry collections, such as the particularly successful DNA collection represented by Museum of Modern Art, (MoMA) NYC, Japan, Korea and Takashimaya, NYC whom also represented her bags. In 2008 Andrea Valentini's in Blaine Brownell's Book Transmaterials 2. From 2009 she established a showroom, a gallery space and a roster of talent.
Her showroom would establish her branded collections of sculptural lifestyle bags and furnishings, from her signature fabricated textiles and custom jewelry designed from industrial materials.
Her gallery, "LAUNCH" would invite senior students to make the leap from school to street in effort to see their work in another context, expose them to a new audience, share, talk, show and sell their work for the first time in a gallery space accessible to the public.
In 2009 Andrea Valentini asked her neighbor friend, Miss Olivia Culpo, to model her bags and jewerly representing the face of her brand. Olivia Culpo, quickly moved into pagentry and modeling, leading her to become Miss USA and Miss Universe 2012.
In 2010 Andrea was asked to use her innovative fabric process to design an exclusive custom duffel bag for Eric Clapton's Crossroads Fundraiser Concert in Chicago, which Eric could gift to 30 of his closest friends and legendary artists in support of his rehab center in Antique.
In 2010,11 & 12, Valentini's sculptural fabrics made their debut in a new form that would be walking down the run way of Providence Rhode Island, Style Week Fashion Shows for 4 seasons, exposing another side of her talented hand and mind through the body. She also participated in a sector of NY fashion Week in 2012.
Andrea Valentini’s sculptural pieces are published in Inside Design Now 2003. Certain pieces were acquired by; Vitra, Herman Miller and Target to name a few and have been featured in: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, Providence Journal, and several magazines to include: Interior Design, I.D, Dwell, Parenting, Surface and Metropolis. She is a member of the IDNF-"International Design Network Foundation".
Andrea Valentini was appointed by (RISCA) the state of Rhode Island Council for the Arts as a board member from 2007-2013. She is also an (Adjunct Professor) in the Industrial Design Department and lecturer in Textiles at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
Quotes
"I love when people are drawn to touch my products. It means that the same tactile qualities that inspired me to use a certain material also appeal to others. That is the human connection I seek to discover through the materials I choose, and my way of touching people through my work.”