We recently connected with Ruggero Vittorini and have shared our conversation below.

Ruggero, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

My whole life I’ve danced around the arts. Well, I actually never danced, but definitely jumped around from medium to medium, expressing creativity in different ways at different times. I’ve never considered a job at a desk, it’s not them, it’s me, we’re not a good match. When I realized skateboarding wasn’t going to be my profession, and that I wouldn’t be making movies for a living any time soon, I went with the third best choice: a music career.

Back in high school I used to trade 4th period for the recording studio, which resulted in poor grades but ultimately a successful career for some years to come. I also got a degree in recording arts, eventually.

When I moved to The Big Apple in my early twenties, pressured by the cost of living, I found a job as a server at an Italian Restaurant. On the verge of being fired for my inexperience, I expressed my interest in the kitchen to the chef of the restaurant, showing him photos of my culinary creations, which were quite terrible in retrospect. Anyway, I got the gig; the culinary world allowed me to grow into a chef, a creative and demanding position that I happily kept for almost decade, managing kitchens in New York City and Miami. Although cooking is one of my favorite forms or art, one day I realized that I wanted to work for myself, and that opening a restaurant wasn’t at all my priority. So I left the restaurant life, in search of something — I wanted music again, I wanted to travel, I wanted color, I painted, a lot; took thousands of photos, made hundreds of analog and digital works, I was like a child again. But at some point I knew it was time to start focusing my energy into something specific, and make a living out of it. My wife and I packed our stuff and moved to Los Angeles, a perfect launchpad for all kinds of artists.

Visual arts have always followed me around as far back as I can remember. Throughout my musical and culinary lives, design was the skill I always practiced, freelancing and staying relevant in this ever-evolving field. This skill was the key to my new life. In the midst of working in TV and film as a set dresser and graphic designer, I partnered with a lifelong friend and founded Inward, a creative studio that is set to grow its capabilities across several mediums.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After starting an LLC, I knew we needed to evolve and do more than just make logos, so I began studying and applying more and more aspects of brand strategy to each of our projects, making our relationship with clients more valuable, and our conversations more interesting. At this stage we’re mostly focused on visuals, doing anything from brand identities, cover art, illustrations, 3D models, websites, video, music production, sound design, and NFT creation. We’re constantly connecting with creatives and branching out. Inward Studio acts as a partner to its clients, we look at the problem together, and find the best solution.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

For The Space Tomato, I created a piece every day for a year, and posted whatever caption came to mind. I also met some cool people, and there’s definitely a sense of “surreal collage community” on social media. Now that I don’t make as many works in that particular style, I curate the account with other artists’ work, exposing a bit of this community to my audience.

For the account where I post my abstract paintings and whacky doodles, I have no idea, I don’t know why anyone would follow me.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Being a creative professional means that I can be myself, and make a living from it. I wish for everyone to make a living by doing what they love.

Contact Info:

• Website: ruggerovittorini.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/ruggerovittorini
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ruggerovittorini
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruggerovittorini/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Inward_studio
• Other: http://inward.studio

Image Credits
Headshots by Eric LaRokk