Where do you draw inspiration?
I mainly draw my inspiration from Chicago, my travels and lived experience.
Can you talk about your practice in the light of a pandemic and sociopolitical crisis—what changed, what remains the same?
This is such a heavy topic right now. One thing I’ve started to do is meditate much more and facilitate meditation for folks. I feel more grounded and I feel all of my practice has evolved so I’m still interested in the same things as before the pandemic started but now I’m more dialed-in to the work and I’m grateful.
Where do you see the future of design?
I see the future of design post-COVID really belonging to the people. I see it being more thoughtful and intentional. I see more designers moving toward developing a branded style and artistic language with their work, understanding that they will need this to distinguish themselves much like artists.
Greek-born Vasia Rigou is a Chicago-based art critic and pop culture journalist, largely on the subjects of contemporary art, design, and fashion. She moved to Chicago in 2013 to study Arts Journalism at the School of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC,) where she was awarded the New Artist Society Merit Scholarship. She grew up to appreciate art after years of carefully planned, culture-filled travel itineraries and museum-hopping around Europe with her family. During this time, she received a bachelor’s in English Literature, in her native Athens; a master’s in Media, in Nottingham, UK; and studied foreign languages—English, German, and Spanish at the University of Salamanca, Spain. Her writing—reviewing museum exhibitions, gallery shows, art fairs, fashion shows, and music festivals among others—has been published nationally and internationally both in print and online. In 2017, she founded and now serves as editor-in-chief of Rainbowed.—an independently published website focused on the visual and performing arts, digital media, and popular culture. When she’s not writing about art or looking at art—wine in hand, she keeps up with Chicago’s creative entrepreneurial and startup community, makes lists for pretty much everything, drinks immense amounts of coffee and takes cross-country road trips every chance she gets.
Contact: hello@rigouvasia.com Website: www.rigouvasia.com