Andreea Avram Rusu
Andreea Avram Rusu’s design work is intimately informed by her background as an architect, tango dancer, world traveler, and child of scientists. She brings an artist’s sensibility and an explorer’s curiosity to everything she conceives and creates, while ultimately grounding her collections with exceptional craftsmanship and precision. Bold, sculptural compositions expertly rendered in natural materials are the hallmark of her studio practice.
Born in Romania, Andreea emigrated to the U.S. with her family as a child and earned her Bachelor of Architecture degree at the University of Texas in Austin. Influences include childhood summers spent immersed in nature at the Black Sea, traditional Eastern European textiles, and pioneering American sculptor Eve Hesse’s fearless embrace of unconventional materials and methods and the absurd.
Andreea began designing lighting as a response to her personal desire for more sculptural, integrated illumination in her architecture and interiors practice. Her exercises in composition and spatial interaction, as well as deep material and craft investigation, led to the development of her internationally recognized lighting collections and naturally evolved into furniture, objects, and most recently, a rug collaboration with Miami-based Art + Loom.
Avram Rusu’s work has been published by The New York Times, Interior Design, Galerie, Luxe, and Sight Unseen, among others. In 2023 she was honored as one of Galerie magazine’s Creative Minds. Her Botanica and Continuum Lighting Collections have both been Interior Design magazine NYCxDESIGN Award honorees. Her designs have been exhibited at The Salon Art + Design in New York and Design Miami, as well as The Denver Art Museum.
Avram Rusu Studio
New York-based Avram Rusu Studio was founded by architect and designer Andreea Avram Rusu in 2004. Infusing the creative process with her unique alchemy of sculptural intuition and specific formal concepts, Andreea combines technical precision with an affinity for organic flow and natural materials in her dynamic lighting, furniture, object, and rug collections.
Andreea’s instinctive, tactile approach involves conceptualizing her imaginative, functional pieces through elemental and spatial exploration, perfecting her ideas by building and refining full-scale models by hand. Informed by years of study in the intricacies of hand-crafted design and through collaboration with exceptional artisans, her process ensures a profound understanding of material nuances. Her obsession for every detail, even for subtleties less apparent to the untrained eye, extends to each work and every component. Expertly hand-blown glass hues and precisely honed metal finishes and stone surfaces are meticulously selected to ensure harmony in unison.
Emphasizing innovation and quality, Avram Rusu Studio approaches finishing and assembly with the same dedication. All work is made to order and built by hand at the studio in Brooklyn, New York. Whether for a private residence or commercial space, Andreea personally works with clients to create one-of-a-kind pieces that enhance any environment.
