Rodolfo Agrella

Designer and architect based in New York, born and raised in Caracas, Rodolfo Agrella is the heart of a team in charge of manifesting narratives into award-winning physical and digital products, interiors, graphics, exhibitions, and immersive spaces.

Rodolfo Agrella collaborated with international brands such as Absolut, Koziol, TaiPing Carpets, Silverspot Cinemas, WeWork, Juniper Lighting, 3M, Steinway & Sons, Heller, MoMA and ICFF and WantedDesign.

Agrella’s work has been exhibited at the most important global venues and trade shows, such as Salone Satellite di Milano, earning him international recognition, including the prestigious German Design Award—Special Mention, among many others.

As a kid, what did you answer when asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
I had many answers to that question. I remember clearly saying I wanted to be a Doctor, a Construction Worker, a Painter, an Engineer or a Contemporary Dancer. A plethora of trades, which actually makes sense with what we do at RADS currently.

Which designer and/or piece of work inspires you? Why?
I’m always amazed by Bruno Munari’s body of work, from products to graphics to design thinking strategies. He had an unquestionable talent to distill complex ideas into clear statements and make them approachable and fun. I can totally relate to that.

Who are the three designers you follow on Instagram?
Besides all my designer friends, up-and-coming or globally established, whose IG accounts I greatly recommend (the list is long, so I encourage you —reader—  to go to @rodolfoagrella and @rads.group to do some stalking and follow them too) I actually follow creative people and accounts from different disciplines that enhance our design community, such as choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou @papaioannou_d, the sharp eye and mind of Emily Keegin @emily_elsie, and Food stylist Laila Gohar @lailacooks

What is your design philosophy?
At RADS, we approach every project with the same design thinking strategy, no matter the field it comes from. We dive deep into all the variables to identify the real issue of the project and then find out an outlet, or several, for the solution. We enhance cross-disciplines collaborations as a way to enrich the solution and ensure the longevity of the project, but also as a major tool to understand complex and variable information that later on gets filtered through design. At the studio, we work hard —obsessively— on identifying the core idea of a project, tapping into its minimal expression achieving simplicity, and then apply boldness to it using color and light as physical channels to touch people’s emotions, no matter the scale, the program nor the medium of the design project.

How long have you been in NYC and how does it influence your work?
I’m based in New York City although I spend most of the time on a plane travelling between US, Europe and Latin America. I’m originally from Caracas, Venezuela, but I’ve been living in the US for a decade. Both of these cities has a great influence on my work. While my memories of Caracas and Latin America influences my approach to color and passion, New York City has a stronger influence on what we do, especially because the city is overwhelmingly stimulating, so in order to thrive it becomes imperative to be fully aligned with yourself first, then with your ideas and their purpose, and lastly with the way you communicate them on a convulsed context. Thus, simplicity and boldness as crucial design axis on what we do.

Was there a moment when you realized you wanted to be a designer? If so, what was it?
20 years ago, when I was studying architecture in Milan, I was able to experience first-hand the multiple outlets that design has and how these were fully integrated into society. Back then, immersed into it, I realized I wanted to devote my professional path to be a designer, navigate through all of these diverse outlets and somehow become an undercover part of society’s dynamics. Still working on it.

Which of your pieces, products, and/or projects are you most proud of? Why?
A Casava and Cacao cracker (Teneo) that I designed along a gastronomic lab a few years ago as an ephemeral utensil, the purpose was to connect an international audience with the flavors of the tropics and build out an emotional connection to an edible object.

What is the most pressing issue in the design world today?
The revision of the sustainability concept beyond the use of just “green” materials or processes, it is a crucial and very current issue that we all need to address as a design community, starting with educating the final consumer of our products.

The best way to explain it is through a parallelism with the fast-fashion phenomenon. Fast-fashion relates to little investment in poor product-quality for the sake of following a trend, after a season or two — maybe a couple of uses — that clothing item is either damaged or out of style, and then people jump into the next item, discarding the previous one and restarting the cycle. This short lifespan phenomenon enables an endless chain of waste and resources that have a big environmental impact. Same happens with furniture —to name a single branch of the design world— where consumption comes out of a trend, constantly feed by designers and makers, and not out of a thorough process of identifying the need and the investment longevity. Yes, design and production processes should be focused on reducing their carbon footprints, but the intention of those pieces should be timeless, that way we can all educate the market.

What’s now?
We are currently designing a few collections for international brands, shaping the American landscape of trade shows with our involvement on the design of several shows across the country.

What’s next? 
At RADS we are extremely excited —and particularly me— about a groundbreaking project that taps into the world of spirituality and legacy. A super complex project that we’ve been working for over 2 years, merging design and the life of a Blessed trailblazer woman, soon to be canonized. More to come!

Last question! What is your favorite director/movie? Or your favorite band/artist/song?

My —very eclectic— visual and sound library is in constant expansion thanks to my studio’s team. We have a few musicians and photographers as part of RADS’ group and we are always exchanging references, so it’s really hard for me to label a piece or artist as my absolute favorite. I’m currently obsessed with Jodorowsky’s visually and spiritually striking “The Holy Mountain”. Music-wise Philip Glass’ “Einstein on the Beach” Opera has become a constant inspiration source to me.

For more about Rodolfo’s childhood, design process, career path and to hear his legendary laugh, we invite you to listen to this Clever Podcast episode with Amy Devers.