VALÉRIA ROCHA CARDOSO-TAN, founder

Architect ( Brazil ) Designer ( USA )

I love to celebrate.And for me, serving as a channel —through design —for people’s true connections with their own spaces and the world around them is reason to celebrate.It makes me feel genuinely happy when the magic happens.

I love to celebrate.

And for me, to serve as a channel —through design —to facilitate this powerful emotional connection between people and space is reason to celebrate.

It makes me genuinely happy when the magic happens.

Exposure & Influences

For nearly twenty five years, Valeria has cultivated her expertise in the complementary fields of architecture, interior design, industrial design, branding, merchandising and visual identity, drawing inspiration from life abroad, extensive travel and cross-disciplinary collaborative work.

Her worldly design perspective grew as her work exposed her to projects in cities around the globe including Barcelona, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Vienna, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre and most recently Lisbon.

Well-being & Sustainability

Valeria’s passion for her work evolved from her true belief on the transformative power of design to improve people’s lives. Throughout her career, while diverse in scope, the unifying thread to her projects has always been the underlying principle of bringing a sense of joy, purpose and meaning. These, coupled with the practice of human-centered design methodologies and her curiosity for ancient architectural traditions, have inspired her to start her own design studio VALERIACARDOSO— an integrative practice of interior architecture and interior design committed to designing for well-being, by building sensible environments that promote the most positive impact — spaces that are considerate to people, nature, history, place and time. 

Design Strategy & Innovation

Prior to branching out on her own, Valeria spent five years at the multi-disciplinary global design firm IDEO, applying design thinking to an array of challenges, identifying opportunity areas for innovation and translating brand and design strategies into personalized design solutions. As a senior environment designer, strategist, project leader and mentor, Valeria has completed a diverse range of projects that proposed new systems and new models in retail, financial services, hospitality, healthcare, education and innovative workspaces for clients such as Bank Of America, First Solar, State Farm, Pearson, Equinox, Allen Edmonds, Cisco, Nemours Children’s Hospital, and Marriott Hotels and Resorts.

Valeria has also contributed as Creative Director of Interior Design to the tech startup Bumblebee Spaces which uses AI technology to double usable living space in tight urban apartments. Bumblebee was born in San Francisco CA out of a deep sense of responsibility toward our planet and an unwavering passion to solve the problem of housing.

Valeria holds an Architecture and Urban Design degree from the UFRGS School of Architecture (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil) and has completed the Professional Feng Shui Program at the Golden Gate School of Feng Shui in Berlekey, CA.

After 20 years living and working in the US, Valeria has recently moved her design studio to beautiful Portugal. Together with her husband, the industrial designer Joe Tan and their children, the family has now a new ground for inspiration.