Meet Andreea Cristea | Conceptual Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Andreea Cristea and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Andreea, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I don’t remember a time in my life when I was not engaging creatively with something. All the family videos reveal my miniature self painting, dancing, photographing, and filming with old telephones and cameras. I was that annoying curious kid that enjoyed asking “why” and I’m glad to say I haven’t changed since. I like to think of the skills I gained over the years as excavating tools that help me now explore life. As a result, creating a safe environment within my work for others to question and explore intentions and beliefs is my ultimate goal.

The creative urge was bigger than my body. Since kindergarten, I was very focused on how I might exercise that need for what I would call ‘giving’. Most of the time when I visit my relatives they enjoy exhibiting all the paintings and crafts I gifted them over the years. It is quite a beautiful feeling, knowing that your first encounter with art is safely kept in these micro museums.

Things got serious during the first year of my art degree when I was spending days in the library researching various concepts, subjects, and voices. This absolute hunger for knowledge made me question everything and gently pushed me onto a different artistic path, other than the one I previously intended to explore. It was the moment when I decided that through my work I want to make the audience investigate their emotions, and question not only their beliefs but my intentions as well. On a more philosophical note, to also consider their relationship with time. Bill Viola, Mariele Neudecker, Olafur Eliasson, and Boltanski are “at fault” for that. Looking back now, I think it is safe to say that I’ve been an artist since I can remember. I am not sure I know how to do anything else.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I tried what seems like everything: from contemporary dance classes to painting and sculpture, illustration, printmaking, analogue photography, installation art, film, experimental sound, digital art, etc. I strongly believe that together all of these shaped the creative I am today. As previously said, my practice revolves around multidisciplinary expression, and the thing that I am more excited about is building bridges between creative disciplines. For instance, my previous job was related to printmaking in woke fashion but in two weeks I’m starting a design position at an architecture studio in central London.

On a more general note, I think we can agree that in the last few years, creativity has moved from a concern with individual freedom to a more pluralistic idea of responsibility. And my creative journey navigated and still does both individual intimacy and collective experiences. However, my focus remains for now mainly on the plurality of shared experiences. That sort of explains the peak in my passion for design for quite a while now. My work has always been human-centered. But, slightly different from Visual & Experimental Arts, my previous concerns, Design forces me to stay connected with people on a whole different level.

Moving forward, creative growth for me is strongly connected to the change in the belief in how the public is supposed to respond to your work. Before, I was trying so hard to make sure my intentions are understood, whereas now, I let my work be as flexible and fluid as possible. I enjoy the endless possibilities of interpretation that come from various interactions between my work and other people. Somewhere in my practice, it was a tight knot that needed to be released, and once loosened, I learnt to value collective experiences more than anything.

Because of this switch in my perspective, I am now focusing more on how people can experience my work in a space and how the work can become the space itself, physical or digital. This spatial awareness of design broaden my horizons and I am now on a learning path of including architectural design and interactive/immersive art in my practice. I have a considerable amount of ideas that I hope, at least some, will become reality in the years that will follow.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My favourite spot in London is a cafe on Fleet Street, The Fleet Street Press. One of my friends showed it to me a while ago and I absolutely loved its vibe. The second one on the list would be 180 The Strand. I was lucky to have an internship there not long ago; that environment gave me enough inspiration and energy for many years to come.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My main inspiration at the moment is my partner, Dragos Apetri (on IMDb), a film editor that just went to Venice Biennale with the most recent film he worked on, To the North by Mihai Mincan. I learnt so much from him in terms of creative dedication, cultural knowledge, and his ability to contribute to the creation of a new cinema wave. Another person I would like to dedicate a shoutout to is Sabina, one of my closest friends, an amazing designer that I believe will soon become a full-on genre (@spectraldaze on Instagram). I have a lot to thank her for, especially for supporting me on this design path.

Website: https://readymag.com/u3525336212/andreeacristea/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abbandonosole/?hl=en

Other: https://www.behance.net/abbandonosd247

Image Credits
-The via Culted pictures: Reuben Selby Autumn/Winter 2022 photographed by Liam James for Culted Magazine -Glamour Magazine, RO -Ieva Aukscionyte