Valentino Angela

Dreamer. Thinker. Explorer. Maker. In no particular order.Born in Aruba, shaped by Caribbean roots, and working out of Amsterdam, Valentino Angela moves fluidly between creative direction, graphic design, and cultural research. He brings a way of working that combines creative instinct with thoughtful research. From envisioning concepts to crafting them by hand, he operates like a Swiss army knife – versatile, curious, and deeply invested in the work.

As co-founder and creative director of Recent™, his studio practice becomes both laboratory and cultural investigation: pulling apart internet aesthetics, weaving them through diasporic histories, and threading them back into contemporary design systems. Whether working with The Black Archives, Google, the Rijksmuseum, or emerging cultural initiatives, his projects become opportunities to question and recontextualize. Teaching is a natural extension of this approach. At the University of the Arts Utrecht (HKU), he brings the same exploratory mindset to the classroom – treating it as a space for experimentation, improvisation, sharing process, challenging assumptions, and learning alongside students.

Valentino’s ongoing pursuit is simple and constant: to move ideas from the head into the world – thoughtfully, critically, and with cultural intent.