About Oana Alupoaie

Oana Alupoaie is a San Francisco based designer who primarily designs metal home décor objects. With a background in fine arts from UCSD, and a stint in London at Goldsmiths University, Oana found herself drawn to artisanal crafts and began designing jewelry. After learning the intricacies of casting metal for jewelry, it was a natural transition to then design metal home décor.

As Viridian Bay’s in-house designer, Oana approaches design more as an artist than as an industrial designer. The result is functional home items with an emphasis on aesthetics. Each piece is a study in natural beauty, balance and form. Once a design is approved, a clay prototype is sculpted and revised until it is just right. A mold is made of the clay sculpture and then the piece is cast either in aluminum or brass, welded, polished, and finally a hand-applied finish or patina finishes the piece.

Oana is heavily inspired by nature and especially by her travels abroad. “Travel allows you the ability to appreciate the nuances of a culture, including its aesthetic bent, and attitude. So designing for a Riviera collection versus a Japan collection, you not only get very different visuals and references, but the attitude will be different as well.” Oana’s time as a jeweler also influences the sculptural quality of her home décor design, creating a greater level of detail and intricacy for the more elaborate Viridian Bay pieces.