Thursday, November 15th, 7:00 – 9:30pm
Howdy! How Design Communicates
In the Duncan Anderson Design Department Gallery at California State University, Long Beach
What does your design say? Is it just working, is it a mute drone or can it speak? Is your design eloquent, fluent… interesting? Does it tell a story? What does it reveal to the user?
We are interested in the big idea, the story, and the concept. We establish a project’s DNA and work to make it more vivid through the process of our design. We work on projects, at many different scales, that seek to find relationships between different cultures, different ages, inside and outside, before and after. These relationships are the basis for the stories we seek to tell.
Julie Smith-Clementi embraces the multi-disciplinary design process. An accomplished interior designer she has branched out to become the President and CEO of notNeutral exploring the intimate scale of home products, such as ceramic dishware, glassware, table linens, pillows, area rugs, and furniture.
By embracing the multi-disciplinary design process, Julie Smith-Clementi views every project as an opportunity to create something new and engaging. In more than twenty years at Rios Clementi Hale Studios, Julie has been integral in the development of many of the firm’s award-winning projects, incorporating multiple design fields to create spaces that both inspire and evolve.
Julie was the Project Architect for many of the firm’s childcare center projects, as well as numerous commercial and residential projects where she was responsible for the interiors and furnishings design. The experience of designing spaces and furniture for both adults and children in commercial and residential applications was what lead her to start discussions about forming a product design company.
Julie has also been pivotal in the development of notNeutral, the product design arm of Rios Clementi Hale Studios, for which she serves as CEO. Founded in 2001, the notNeutral brand and retail store quickly developed a national reputation that continues to grow under Julie’s vision and leadership. A natural extension of the firm’s interiors practice, notNeutral explores the intimate scale of home products, such as ceramic dishware, glassware, table linens, pillows, area rugs, and furniture. notNeutral has sold products to Bloomingdales, DWR, Bed Bath & Beyond, Amazon.com and specialty retailers and museums around the country. The LINO Collection of cups, developed for Intelligentsia, is now sold in the finest specialty coffee shops in the world.
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