CHIT-CHAT-EAU Episode No. 10: Valentina Cameranesi, Artist

Welcome to CHIT-CHAT-EAU: Chateau Orlando's series of interviews hosted by our Co-Founder and Creative Director Luke Edward Hall.

Our tenth guest is Valentina Cameranesi, a Milan-based creative director, designer and set designer. Valentina works closely with the Cameranesi Pompili studio, where her personal artistic research focuses on the relationship between the artificial and the natural, often exploring this theme through media such as photography, video, ceramics and sculptural objects.

Here at Chateau Orlando we’re curious collectors. We love the joy that physical objects can bring. Why do you think such tangible things have such a strong pull on our emotions? And is there an object you own that brings you particular joy?

For me there is a strong connection between objects and memory – I always think in a “photographic” kind of way, framing the reality around me. This associates with a tactile feeling that is very relevant to me. A real object becomes a sort of embodiment of a memory or an idea. I own way too many things but there is not one object that brings particular joy. In a weird way the most sacred ones are things that have no particular value: some silks I have collected, some weird pieces of wood I keep in a box for a future project that will (probably ) never happen, my books to which I always go back to.

Sometimes an object exists not just by itself, but in dialogue with everything around it. It could live in completely different ways depending on the space it occupies. When you design, do you usually imagine a space or context for your creations, or do you make them ready to adapt to any space and story? And when does thinking about how an object will interact with its surroundings start to influence the object itself?

I do design with this cinematic idea in mind for sure but it is 90% fantasy. It does not exist in real life. For me, all the time, the object is rarely a standalone, it is a creature that moves around the world.

You often work with craftspeople and small workshops. What’s the best part of these collaborations for you: sharing ideas, experimenting together, or something else?

First and foremost I love collaboration. I simply enjoy working with other people, and I separate my process into two parts: the solitary, quiet one when I design draw and put together my ideas, and the second one which is all action, movement and getting things done. To work with different people and workshops I enjoy because I’m able to enter this happy process of having things happen, learning the technical side but also giving options and coming up with solutions. There is most of the time a pleasant and fun human side to this part!

A book, a record, a film and a city that’s currently influencing you: what is feeding your imagination right now?

Ah, a difficult one! Book: I have two books at this time in mind. One is Paul Schrader’s Transcendental Style in Film, which is quite technical but I enjoy so much the analysis and the acute point of view behind it. The other one that I keep having close to me on my desk and/or bed is Fleur Jaeggy’s Sweet Days of Discipline, which is a book that made me curious as two dear and clever friends spoke about it to me at different times. It’s all about containment of emotions, solitary pleasures, silence, passions and projections. I read it this summer and I found it so inspiring I could transform some sentences into objects in my mind. I keep it close to reach for when I need it.

Record: my music taste does not go in one direction so I will give four songs that I would not mind having on loop for a day:

Tones on Tail: Rain

Karate: Original Spies

Prince: I Would Die 4 U

Sonic Youth: Shadow of a Doubt

Movie: I will go with Hitchcock’s Rebecca for the scene in the dead wife’s bedroom with the long shadows. Classic.

City: Paris – it is almost a cliche but is a city which is connected with way too many emotions and friends and memories.

Looking at your work today, which project makes you the proudest – the one that feels most like “you”?

Also a very difficult one: perhaps a small book which has contributions from people I really admire and I am lucky enough to consider friends.

Is there an object, material, or type of project that you’ve always dreamed of working with but haven’t yet? Something you hope to explore in the future?

Well I have worked with textiles in the past but I feel there is still something I could explore, and I would like to really delve further into the relationship between light and glass.

Name a country you haven't been to that you'd like to visit, and tell us why.

If I have to pick one I would definitely say Vietnam – I have a projection of this country being so incredibly inspiring both from a craft perspective and the way nature intertwines and grows there. For me, certain places constantly pull me back to them and I return often for inspiration. Do you have places like these, ones that you feel creatively connected to? I know that I need motion to activate my brain, so I connect long walks to creativity. No matter where I am, sometimes I just need to go for a walk, alone, become invisible and observe all around me the small details, the faces, and think with no particular order. So it is not really a physical place but more of a “state”.