We were lucky to catch up with Valentina Trentini recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Valentina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
Strangely enough , when I discovered Sign Painting a few years ago, my first feeling was being bummed because I didn’t start this career sooner, that I’ve lost so many years finding the right path and it had always been right in front of me this entire time. But the truth is, I started at the perfect point in my life.
Every single job I did led me where I am today. I’ve always been a very creative person and, since I was little, I was painting with my mom. I went to an Art high school in Italy and learned a lot about the different techniques, brushes, how to sketch… even being a bartender helped me, with the mixing and being precise, cleaning the bar when the shift was over, and taking care of my workplace.
I was a graphic designer for a Ski and Snowboarding company while living in Italy, so my creative side has always been stimulated. and I’m using all those skills in my job now. I’m not sure I would have taken Sign Painting so seriously if I had started at a younger age, because I did not know where I wanted to live yet.
After travelling a lot, changing places I was calling home multiple times,I met my husband here in L.A. I’m so grateful to have found him, because he gave me the stability I needed and I could finally call a place home for good.
I decided that it was time to follow a path and everything was pointing in the Sign Painting direction. Everything fell into place at the right moment for me….and what an amazing feeling that is.
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?
Well, let’s start with: Hi, I’m Valentina, I’m an Italian Sign Painter in Los Angeles! Lots of people have no idea what the term Sign Painter means, because it was actually a job that was prominent back in the days, and it’s started to come back just in the past 10 years. I basically paint signs of all kinds, on any surface, I paint restored and vintage vehicles, murals, I work with gold leaf, I provide a unique design style.
I specialize in building and painting custom a-frames, storefronts and gilded signs using the finest gold leaf on the market. I’ve always been a problem solver since I was a kid but what I try very hard to do on every job is being fast while still being very precise and professional.
A sign is a very important part of a business, if not the most important part. There is a saying, “A business with no sign, is a sign of no business!” and this is absolutely true. My signs can drive more clients to the business, can make the business more visible from a distance and more interesting. I’m always very close with my clients, my goal is to create a sign they love but at the same time serves the purpose of bringing in more revenue.
I have to be honest, every time I paint a sign I get really proud of what I have accomplished because each job is a little harder than the previous one, improving my techniques and tools. Lately I’ve been painting more vintage and restored cars, specifically Porsche and racing Alfa Romeo, and I enjoy it so much. There is something so fascinating about painting a car, especially a restored car. Those kinds of cars are coming back to life, they get a second chance, and I enjoy being a part of their new life.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding thing for me is everyone’s reaction about what I make. Positive or negative does not really matter to me because, from either reaction, I can learn more and get better at what I’m doing. I can definitely express myself in projects where clients allow me to, which is luckily most of the time, and the trust that gets built between us it’s something I don’t take for granted . But the reward is not just completing a sign, a mural or a vehicle, it’s the network that is created, the questions that other painters have for me or I have for them. The friendship and trust that comes out of it. That for me is the most rewarding thing of all.
I’m a very precise person and want to control everything around me, but when I paint I have to let everything go because what I do cannot be precise because It’s painted with my own hands and not made with a computer. Most of the time, the paint controls me and I create something that I would have never imagined I would have been capable of making.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I started my Sign Painting Journey in 2017 and my friend Mike Meyer told me about a sign painting class at LATTC (Los Angeles Trade Technical College), a Community college that offers a Sign Graphics course, around September of that year. I got so excited when I found out about it because I could finally start my journey as a Sign Painter in a Professional way. That plan changed completely because I found out I was pregnant with my first daughter a month after, so I had to put school to the side for a bit. After I gave birth I really wanted to start painting again, to learn new techniques and go to school, but being a first time mom and on the verge of depression did not help at all. I had to wait one more year, I asked my aunt and uncle to come stay with us in LA from Italy so they could stay with my daughter in the morning while I was going to school…but even then, it did not go as planned.
The day I applied for class, I found out it was full and I was put on a waiting list. Little I knew that, even if you are on a waiting list, you can still show up the first day of school
I’m a very sensitive person, I try to help everyone around me in every way I can, but sometimes it really bites me in the ass. I should not expect people to react the same way I would, but it’s a lesson I’m learning every day. It’s not easy but I’ll get there.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://brushettasigns.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brushettasigns/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentinatrentini/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/brushetta-signs-los-angeles
- Other: VIMEO: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/819601965
Image Credits
All images belong to Bruhsetta Signs Last picure: David Maziarz