WOH&CO is a London based design practice created by independent Mexican designer Valentina Gonzalez Wohlers in April 2009, specializing in bespoke furniture and product design. Trained as an industrial designer and with 15 years of consistent work experience designing and making furniture between Europe and America.
The concepts behind WOH&CO are functionality, aesthetics and surprise factor. Valentinaʼs design fuses conceptual thinking, artistic approach and usability. What is unique about her work is its originality, boldness, narrative and outstanding quality.
Valentina offers furniture and accessories created in the line of emotional design: pieces made to last, to grow older with their owners, becoming into much more than just a material possession to them. The creations are not based in disposable transit trends. This particular take in her design practice invites the audience to interact with it, to play, to question, to be surprised and to enjoy.
Not only WOH&CO offers a fresh approach to a typical designed product through its knowledge of materials, quality and experimental working methods, but also proposes a new look into the furniture scene: a combination of great design and contemporary approach, without compromising true functionality.
Biography
Valentina Gonzalez Wohlers (Mexico City, 1977)
Product and interior designer based in London. Before entering Central Saint Martins to complete an MA in Contemporary Furniture (London 2005-2007) she graduated in Industrial Design with honours from the Universidad Iberoamericana in 2000, Mexico City. Her work has been featured in a wide range of international publications -Once Upon a Chair, by Die Gestalten Verlag; Fabulous Furniture by Artpower International, and Cristina Morozzi’s Terrific Design. With consistent press and media coverage in the World of Interiors, Architectural Digest, Wallpaper*, Vogue Living, GQ, cover of Marie Claire Deco, Hotel Costes, Forbes, How to Spend it, among others, and selected for design exhibitions around America and Europe. She is a regular guest lecturer and speaker in several design colleges throughout the UK and her native Mexico. Currently a professional furniture and interiors designer and consultant, Valentina has been developing her own brand as well of private commissions and conceptual furniture for the residential and commercial industry world wide since 2007.
Selected Exhibitions
Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan 2015 – Mexican Design Pavilion, Ventura Lambrate –In collaboration with GROW AAD
Zona Maco – Mexico Arte Contemporaneo 2015 – The Ghost of a Chair, in collaboration with Andres Siegel Gallery
Pinta The Latin American Art Fair London – Pinta Design May 2014
New York Design Week 2014 at Wanted Design. In collaboration with Territorio Creativo
London Design Festival 2013: The Blooming Branches Collection and Val’s Rockers. Designjunction, London.
Pinta The Latin American Art Fair London – Pinta Design May 2013
The Blooming Branches Collection – Solo Exhibition 2013 Retrouve Galeria, Mexico City – March 2013
The Ap-Art London Winter Show 2012 – Winter Wonderland selling exhibition. Curated by Adrian Palengat.
London Design Festival 2012: The Wild Bodged Chair, Southbank Centre, London. In collaboration with Designersblock
Mexico Through Your Senses, Mexican Embassy to the UK. London, June 2012
Pinta The Latin American Art Fair London – Pinta Design May 2012
‘Design Mexico: The Contemporaries’ Ministry of Economy Gallery. Mexico City May – July 2012
ʻMexican Factory: Contemporary Industrial Designʼ Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City. October 2011 to February 2012. Mexico City.
Design Week Mexico City: The Ghost of a Chair. In collaboration with BLEND. Mexico City, October 2011.
ENADII 2011: National Summit of Architecture and Interior Design. Mexico City, 2011
London Design Festival 2011: Eden, the Tenango Chair for Natuzzi’s ʻChair Affairʼ -In collaboration with Studio 180° interiors.
Surreal Woman: Celebrating 75 years of the Surrealist movement.
Collective exhibition curated by Guts for Garters, London June 2011
New York Design Week 2011 – In collaboration with Wanted Design
Feira Internacional de Lisboa: INTER Casa Concept October 2010
International Fair of Lisbon – Parque das Nações, in collaboration with Marcela Brunken & Fabrico Infinito
London Design Festival 2010: 13 Ghosts, a major installation of contemporary furniture, in collaboration with Designersblock, London.
TWO’S A PAIR: Friday Late at the Victoria and Albert Museum
TOQUES – Connectivity by Valentina Gonzalez Wohlers. Part of the London Design Festival 2010
Pulse London – Selected by Central Saint Martins, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, June 2010
Pinta The Latin American Art Fair London – Pinta Design May 2010
Clerkenwell Design Week 2010, Farmiloe Building, London 2010
International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) NYC 2010 – In collaboration with BEDG – UK Trade and Investment award 2010
Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan 2010 – In collaboration with Designersblock – UK Trade and Investment award 2010
London Design Festival 2009: The Ghost of a Chair -In collaboration with Designersblock
Pulse London with the Innovation Centre of Central Saint Martins Earls Court Exhibition Centre, June 2009
Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan 2009 -In collaboration with Designersblock – UK Trade and Investment award 2009