Andrea Valentini (designer)

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Andrea Valentini is an American designer based in San Francisco, known for her high-performance handbag line for both men and women. She was born and raised in Rhode Island and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1995 with degrees in fine arts and interior architecture.

After college, Valentini helped start an interior architecture firm with a fellow RISD graduate, earning recognition for award-winning commercial and residential designs. She later moved from interiors to develop her own signature materials, producing furniture, furnishings, and personal accessories.

In 2000 she launched a series of furniture collections at the Providence Fine Furnishings Fair. She gained attention in 2001 at the New York International Contemporary Furniture Fair for innovative upcycled materials used in sculptural furniture and lighting. Her Coosh Egg Chair, a high-density foam piece that opens into a chair and ottoman, received praise, was featured in Interior Design magazine’s future furniture competition, and was nominated for Best Product Design by the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. The chair is in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts collection.

Valentini exhibited in Gifu, Japan in 2002, and her work has appeared in galleries and museums across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. In 2003 she was invited to submit work to the Cooper Hewitt National Design Triennial. In 2005 she developed a signature sculptural textile created by fusing and molding fabrics with foams, which was recognized by material libraries like Material Connexion, Scin, and Materia. The Museum of Modern Art asked her to design a computer bag using her patented material and its distinctive structure.

In 2006 she presented Second Skin with Ellen Lupton in Germany, Japan, and Mexico. In 2007 Valentini launched her first lifestyle bag collection for women and men. She also created jewelry collections, including the DNA line represented by MoMA in New York, Japan, Korea, and Takashimaya in New York.

In 2009 she opened a showroom and gallery space, showcasing sculptural bags, furnishings, and jewelry, and helping emerging designers move from school to the marketplace. She also tapped her neighbor Olivia Culpo to model her bags and jewelry; Culpo later became Miss USA and Miss Universe in 2012.

In 2010 Valentini designed an exclusive custom duffel bag for Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago. From 2010 to 2012 her sculptural fabrics appeared on runways at Style Week Providence and in New York Fashion Week. Her work has been published in design books and magazines, and some pieces have been acquired by Vitra, Herman Miller, and Target. She emphasizes that all her products are designed and made in America.

Valentini is a member of the International Design Network Foundation and served on the Rhode Island Council for the Arts board from 2007 to 2013. She is also an adjunct professor in the Industrial Design Department and a lecturer in Textiles at the Rhode Island School of Design.