Creatives across borders: Ori Bellardi
Introduction
Ori Bellardi is a talented Venezuelan 3D toy maker and Painter known for her vibrant and imaginative creations. In this interview, Ori shares her journey from the culinary arts to crafting breath-taking 3D printed and painted toys, collaborating with renowned artists like Dapo Adeola and Chris Chatterton. Her creative career spans several countries where she learned to speak multiple languages; she attributes it to her extensive travel and embracing mistakes. Ori’s journey from the culinary arts to prototyping included self-taught painting and launching a hobby into a business through social connections, reflecting growth and adaptability in both her professional skills and personal identity. She continues to innovate and collaborate with other artists, nurturing a new career while occasionally revisiting her chef role for special projects.
Background
Orianna Bellardi was born in Caracas, Venezuela to an adorable English-teaching mom. She graduated as a chef and after she hit her twenties, left for Spain to continue her career. Less than a year after, she moved to Oporto, Portugal where she opened two restaurants at age 23 as the head chef. She worked there before falling in love and moving back to Spain. Few years after, she received an offer via LinkedIn to run a restaurant in Chandigarh, Northern India; never shy of challenges, Ori accepted the offer and moved to India.
She worked in India as a chef for a while then moved back to Spain, working in another restaurant. Next, she moved to Amsterdam to take up an executive chef role of a renowned hotel brand. After that, she quit and moved back to Spain!
Through her journey, Ori speaks fluent English and Spanish, and some other language bits including Portuguese and Punjabi, which she attributes to her traveling, reading a lot and not being afraid of committing mistakes while speaking a foreign language.
Today, Ori considers herself a prototyper with a heart who 3D prints and paints.
From the Kitchen to the Studio
Ori says it started with her fantasizing about having a 3D printer with her boyfriend, an artist. It sounded cool but she didn’t have the time to learn. On another hand, she realized it was a difficult learning curve without an actual guide to work with. She reached a breaking point where she decided to let go of the kitchen life after 15+ years to try out something new. She started 3d printing and realized she really liked it and could do it. Of the transition, Ori says it’s similar to her role as a chef.
As a chef, when I have to create a dish, I like to sit down, think of the ingredients, draw it, try to make sense of it on paper, then reproduce it. So, I just changed one form of creativity (creating dishes) for the other (3d printing and painting).
Painting — the very beginning
Ori learnt to paint from watching YouTube videos. She says her paintings were really amateur at first but she drew inspiration from her time in the kitchen where she’d given herself time to perfect her culinary skills. With a dozen cheap brushes and paints from Amazon, she tried and kept on trying, giving herself the time to actually try to understand what she was getting herself into and rewarding herself for every improvement. Then she made a jump from those cheap brushes to an airbrush which she knew how to use because she’d had a moment in life where she made cakes for fun.
Hobby to Business
Ori started 3D printing as a hobby by recreating other people’s and her boyfriend’s works. She started her Instagram account as a hobby and started reaching out to 3D artists asking to print and paint their works for free. With those, she learnt about different styles of modelling and painting, and a whole new world opened up. Ori again makes an analogy between this and her previous role as a chef.
When you start working in a kitchen — any kitchen — you usually start cooking other person’s recipes. You have some basic knowledge, like I knew how to print, I knew how to hold some brushes, but I had no idea of the actual creative part. So, I started reaching out to other people, asking if I could print and paint their works in 3d and ship them over. I just wanted to practice. So, I did that the first year. I contacted some artists, and I offered to 3D print their works. And they were, of course, thrilled.
Never one to shy away from challenges, she found some of those tasks very challenging but she persisted with them. Then one day, she got contacted to make a piece for an artist as a paid service. She was surprised and incredibly honoured that she was being commissioned to work on it.
Working with other artists
As a self-acclaimed prototyper with a heart who 3D prints and paints, what Ori enjoys is working with artists as they usually have exciting background stories to their character(s). Her thrill comes from making something for her customer that results in complete excitement, as she is able to understand and demonstrate the importance of that uniqueness to them. She enjoys working with artists and learning from the idea phase through to illustrating, 3d modeling and finally her part of 3d printing and painting. In her words,
So I’m like the last person on that line. I love that usually it involves so many people to have one piece made. The whole collaboration! I depend on your illustrations and you depend on my eyesight because, you know, I have six different types of lights in my studio. So I really have to interpret those colours.
Dealing with Impostor Syndrome
Ori says her transition from chef to an artist has left her with imposter syndromes so much that her LinkedIn profile still speaks to her profession as a chef.
Approaching her fourth year in 3D making, Ori says her new persona is finally taking shape.
I think I have divided my life. I have been in the kitchen for so many years. It was my identity. We usually take so much pride in our work. Some people take pride in their work. Some people do it in other aspects. And I have been taking pride in my job for years. So it has been such a hard transition from being a chef, knowing perfectly what I’m doing, learning new things, applying and knowing I was moving like a fish in a pond you know; it was my game. And it’s really interesting because having to transition, you have to mourn that old person, I had to bury it. That’s another identity, that’s literally another person so it’s been a huge transition. For me to understand that, yeah, you have been a chef, which is fine. You can leave that in the past. Now let’s try to build this new identity and try to find myself comfortable. Like, who am I now? Am I a painter? Am I a 3D printer? Do I work for people? Do I want to work for myself?
Notwithstanding, Ori says she still plays a chef few times for fun as long as it involves people and environments she loves being around. For example, she recently handled a thanksgiving dinner for a private club in Madrid for 120 or so guests.
Career highlights
Ori considers the acknowledgment she gets from others as an artist a huge compliment. She cites her works with the likes of Dapo Adeola, Chris Chatterton and recently having been approached by a huge brand for a project as highlights.
Influences
One of her favourite people is Gabriel Soares, a Brazilian 3D artist. According to Ori, he makes mind-blowing character illustrations and 3d models and then he makes his toys. She loves how he interprets his characters through so many creative levels. Currently, they’re about to embark on a surprise collaboration!
Frank Montano is another one of her references. He makes his own toys and has taken Star Wars, which is a whole universe on its own, and he made it himself. He designed it in such a way that you can see any of the characters in that shape.
Future Projects
For future projects, Ori has been approached by a friend to create a course on post-processing 3d prints. Literally, she’s been asked to teach people how to go crazy with perfectionism; something that makes her works stand out!
Kickstarter campaign
However, the most exciting project is an upcoming Kickstarter campaign for a patented design. It’s an idea she’s been working on with her boyfriend and we won’t spoil the surprise.
Contacting Ori
Ori can be reached via Instagram as that’s where her conversations usually start.
On work-life balance.
Ori enjoys reading a lot. She’s currently re-reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. She also enjoys learning new things whatever it is that catches her attention; Mandarin lately. She recently learned how to do embroidery for the fun of it.
Tips for others
Don’t be afraid! That’s a big piece of advice, don’t be afraid of anything and don’t give a blob of other people; some of them are not worth your energy. I’ve been told by people that I used to consider friends: oh, so this is what you do now? You paint toys? Yeah, not my people anymore. Someone who can’t understand the heart that goes into doing this, doesn’t belong in my life. If there’s anything you want to do, just invest yourself, invest enough time so you can learn and don’t be afraid to try. Just trust yourself and go for it.
