I Racconti (The Tales)

I Racconti (The Tales) is the first American solo exhibition by Milan-based designer Valentina Cameranesi Sgroi. 

This collection of work serves as an experimental exploration into new materialities, techniques and processes – including liquid-like enameled copper vessels, large scale wooden boxes with dressings, and freeform expressions in opaque glass, made in collaboration with a small workshop in the Czech Republic.

Though perhaps a departure in materiality, these works align themselves with Cameranesi Sgroi's larger creative preoccupations with notions of glamor and rituals of femininity, while also suggesting more sinister evocations – shapes that echo ideas of corporeal transformation, illness and even decay. Ever-inspired by film, historical fashion and beauty advertisements, fine art and architecture, these functional works are objects worthy of deep consideration.

Cameranesi Sgroi's works are contextualized within a special curated historical selection from the esteemed collection of Olde Hope Antiques, led by Patrick Bell and Edwin Hill. Sharing a certain material sensibility and all imbued with unique and intriguing stories of their own, these new and antique works exist in concert and in conversation with one another in thought-provoking ways.