In May 2020, at the height of the Covid era, a new “en plein air” design gallery was born, specializing in interior design and devoted to art and spirituality, this is the gallery VGO Associates.
Who is the founder?
The founder is Valentina (Guidi) Ottobri, born in Florence in 1988, visionary contemporary curator. Coming from a humanistic background, she graduated in Communication Sciences and then obtained a master’s degree in “Curating of the Arts” at Saint Martins in London. Valentina approaches the world of art and design through semiotics, anthropology and holistic subjects. After several work experiences with major brands such as Bottega Veneta and Marie Claire India, which will take her to live in Mumbai, Valentina returns to Florence. At the age of 23 she joins the exclusive Luisa Via Roma concept store for which she will fully develop the “home” department by selecting the best designers and artisans from all over the world as well as taking care of the artistic direction linked to each aspect of the industry.
From 2016 Valentina began to curate art and Collectible Design exhibitions such as “Design on Water” in collaboration with Sky Arte Hd, the performance exhibition “Hypersensitive Reinassance” by the young artist Reverie created as a contribution to the Bill Viola exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi Museum in Florence and the “Alchemysts” exhibition on the theme of alchemy curated for the Cambi Auction House in Milan.
Valentina Guidi Ottobri
How was the gallery born?
Two years ago in the south of France near Grasse, Valentina founded VGO Associates incubator of new talents and big names in international design and art. The idea behind the gallery is to create products with which to interact in a different way. It is a new form of animism in which the objects that animate our daily life are charged with a “spiritual” value, developing new spaces for the soul. VGO Associates therefore presents “Functional Sculptures” in which rituality and poetry coexist and interact. The goal is to shift the point of view from external to internal, reconnecting with our true nature. The gallery also expresses itself as a “community” of people who bases the quality of its projects through cultural and experiential exchange. In fact, Valentina had the graceful ability to bring together international designers and artists with the best Italian craftsmen, giving life to a unique exchange capable of mutually enriching the protagonists of this dance of “creating” which has resulted in the creation of unique objects and works created exclusively for the Gallery itself.
VGO Associates “en plein air” gallery
To find out more, below is my conversation with Valentina Ottobri, founder of VGO Associates.
What prompted you to open a Collectible Design gallery?
The purpose of my design gallery of Collectible Design is to create new categories of products that allow us to deeply understand the complexity of our “living”. I would like to create something that goes beyond the usual vase or table proposed in different variants. I often ask myself: “why in 2022 we all have a closet and no one has a room where you can meditate or store your dreams? What is the value of the objects we surround ourselves with? It is from these questions that the most representative works of VGO Associates arise, such as Saviordrawn byMatteo Cibic and made with Scapin. It is a design totem cabinet where you can keep your secrets and from whose censer horns clouds of smoke come out. The “sculpture dustbins”Made in ceramic by the Apulian artisansColì brothers, to remind us of the value of what we throw away. We are currently developing new collections of: sound lamps, bedside recorders to record your dreams and many other talisman objects to experience the home as a theater full of emotions and magic.
Mobile stage by Ugo La Pietra for VGO Associates
How do you choose the designers to represent in your gallery?
I’m not necessarily looking for designers but for enlightened, revolutionary and nonconformist people who want to go beyond the general sense of things to embrace a new ecosophical paradigm that helps us to live better. I’m looking for good ideas for the future and for artists and designers who can shape it. Very often I notice that “artists” and “musicians” are able to transcend form and analyze substance and function better than classic designers.
The drugo by Matteo Cibic for VGO
I know that you organize residences annually to create aggregation between the artists and designers represented by your gallery, can you tell us something more about it?
I like to say that VGO Associates before being a gallery is a community that brings together artists and designers to share through dialogue and interaction. Dialogue, comes from the Greek dia – logos: the questioning of knowledge, a critique of widespread opinions (doxa) to find a truth that stands alone (episteme) is from here that philosophy is born. L
and residences are organized four times a year in different locations and last four days, to celebrate the seasons. The group of participants is made up of 10/12 people with different professional backgrounds, coming from all over the world. Everyone is asked to bring a workshop to share with the rest of the group. THE our only goal is to “exchange at high levels” involving professionals from various sectors who come together to discuss, get inspired, experiment, and get excited, giving birth to new ideas for a better future.
Passiflora chair by Maurizio Galante and Tal Lacman for VGO
Do you think it is also important to invest in unknown young designers to give them the opportunity to emerge?
Young people fascinate me a lot because I am interested in the present and who better than them is able to make us understand what happens in the here and now! The gallery does not look at age but at the “mindset”. We believe it is our duty to give a chance to those who, after completing their studies, are confronted with the market and the world of work for the first time, like ours Hannah Simpson. In the same way we give the opportunity to “historians” to revive their extraordinary ideas. It comes to mind Franco Raggi with which we re-edited “the Tent Rouge” transforming it into Tent Noir, a work inspired by nomadism and simplicity by reinterpreting the concept of “temple”. Not last Ugo the Stone with which we have re-edited the “Stage Furniture”, a brilliant experiment that invites you to experience the home as a theater.
VGO Tarots
What are the new trends you are observing in the world of design?
I don’t like the word “trend” very much. Let’s look at what generally happens after major crises, such as the pandemic that has affected the whole world. What is happening after Covid-19?I think it is still too early to sum up but personally I think the world is reacting on two different axes: obstinacy vs revolution. One part will remain glued to the old patterns and the other part will instead begin to see things from another perspective, fall in love with them and try to transform the surrounding world. On a creative level this will turn into:continue to feed a business that tends to mass production and the exploitation of resources or create by experimenting with new, more aware and rehabilitative paradigms. Today more than ever there is a need for the designer to put himself at the service of society by thinking of innovative systems to do good to the world. The water is running out, death comes later and later and the world population is 8 billion people, are we aware of this? This I believe is the biggest trend we have on our hands.
The sanctuary project by Marysol for VGO Associates
VGO Associates, the Collectible Design Gallery, incubator of talent and spirituality