Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Paola Vizcaino Herrada
Hi Andrea Paola, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Caracas, Venezuela and my dad’s job brought him over to Miami which had my mom, brother, and I move to Doral when I was five years old.
Miami has been home ever since!
Growing up I always had an imaginative mind – between picturing myself living in Dolphin Mall and planning what I would use each store for as I walked through the mall, putting together outfits that no one understood that had my mom asking my brother to “fix my outfit” every single day in elementary school, and who in my family can forget the time in middle school where I had a mental breakdown because I had an assignment for my geography class where I had to draw my childhood bedroom and I didn’t want to draw the exact floor plan of my room and I couldn’t make up my mind on the bedspread pattern and overall layout?! Throughout my childhood I played the violin and piano and sang – once it was time to decide what I was going to pursue in college, my high school chorus teacher, Alicia Romero-Sardiñas, recommended I look into Interior Design as I was always moving around furniture and figuring out the layout for our school coffee house where students would perform for each other and friends and family on Friday nights. These experiences were incredibly formative and paved the way for who I am today.
Once I began my Interior Design degree at Miami Dade, I was full force ahead. I didn’t really venture out of my courses and was committed to my major. It was the start of a kind of obsession with design unlike anything before. Once I received my Associates degree I went for my Masters of Interior Architecture at FIU and that was…insane. Unlike in my undergrad, I would go days and weeks without sleep and would constantly think about my workload, like even dreaming of shapes and colors kind-of-obsessed. My first semester there our grad 1 studio professor talked about crashing her car due to lack of sleep when she was in school. I knew I was doing too much once I went on the programs Yacht design study abroad to the Italian Rivera. While I was fully immersed – I felt myself pulling back from staying up all night like I normally would to perfect my work, to feeling comfortable and confident with what I had after dinner and prioritized a good nights rest to be able to enjoy Italy the next day.
A seed was planted there.
Once I came back from Italy though, sleepless nights did call and I got in a car accident prior to my thesis semester.
I never thought it would happen to me, but it did. My accident “set me back a year”, though it was really a time for me to connect with my goals, priorities, and health, and had me complete my degree over zoom during COVID. After graduating, I had several jobs that were incredible and one that was not so fruitful. Design can be very demanding and the typical 9-5 is not the norm, though I had been very lucky that all of the jobs I did have shared the mentality that 9-5 was it. Until one didn’t. While I managed my workload and projects to where I was done with my to-do-list for the day by 6, the remainder of the department stayed back into the night. I felt like I didn’t really fit in and while I liked the project I was on, something was off and something was missing.
I started Sleuth in that moment.
I remember coming into the office early one day in October before anyone else got there and pushed out the original Sleuth moodboard that lives at the bottom of our Instagram. A few months later, after being uncomfortable for a while I was forced to stay late and alone one night after being handed another 75 pages of redlines at 5pm on a Friday after I had just completed the drawing set before the day was done. I stayed until 1am and sent my resignation Monday morning after being urged by my family to do so. Leaving that job is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I went back and forth on the decision to leave all weekend long, I felt like I was being forced to choose my well being over progressing in my career as a designer.
What it turned out to be though, was a blessing in disguise.
Leaving that position brought opportunities for me to work with some of my favorite creative minds on custom interiors, 3D Modeling, photo realistic renderings, fabrication, and styling, a new corporate role that I never could have dreamed on my own, and the evolution of Sleuth from moodboards and cataloguing design vendors, to the material in stoneware, graphics, and interiors – mainly in my own apartments, but that still counts!
I’ve met so many people who inspire me into pouring everything I’ve got into Sleuth and all the other areas of my life.
My journey has been super non linear but when all the pieces are lined up together, they tell a story that, to me, feels like it was always meant to be.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been the bumpiest roller coaster ride where you spend the whole time thinking if the seat belt is going to give out any minute, and you’re scared, but at the same time you’re having the time of your life.
2024 has been a year of growth and discovery. At the start of this year I wanted to stop posting moodboards, get off my computer and phone, and make something for myself. I wanted to get my hands dirty and I did so every Saturday from 9-5pm between figure drawing at Artworks Associates and ceramics at Anhinga Clay Studios – I’m locked in again just like when I started my formal design education.
My biggest struggle has been trying to monetize my social media presence with it boiling down to my overall relationship to social media and the thought of sharing my work for online validation. I’ve had to switch my perspective on sharing work and progress from being a way to know that it’s “good” in someone else’s eyes – wanting a bunch of views, likes, and followers, to being completely authentic and being ok with it literally just reaching ten people. While I want people to connect with and share my work, to me it’s not about numbers. I rather not think about selling and focus making pieces that reach the right people, VoyageMIA included! I feel lucky in a way to not be in the spotlight or be viral and be able to have the time to find my way on my own terms. It’s exciting that you reached out at this point, when I finally feel a sense of direction for Sleuth, though it has definitely hasn’t been easy – I’ve changed my mind on what this design studio is, if it is a design studio, what it can be, and even what it graphicly looks like more times than the sun shines. I’ve lost friends, made friends, pulled my hair out, lost sleep, lashed out, had many a mental breakdown, apologized to many, but am always willing to try again every time I fall.
If you look at our Instagram, its made up of strictly original work – I’ve archived over 500 plus posts of me just grasping for my own design language, to see where I am today is not just creatively fulfilling but emotionally too. I’ve been really lucky to work with people who push me, value me, and give me the space and voice to have my personal style make its touches in projects. Through Sleuth I’m still trying to find the right fit in interiors projects so my focus right now is to keep working on my ceramics even though the wheel and I have a love hate relationship of sorts and hand building makes me feel that flow but also dread of starting a new floorplan. My design approach is a little masochistic, there’s a lot of impostor syndrome…but I don’t let it get in the way of showing up for myself every day.
I feel like I’m really hitting a stride going into 2025. I’m thankful for all the people I love, loved, and have yet to find. I’m thankful for all of the mentors I have gathered over the years; from my mom and dad to Michael Dolatowski, Teddy Mayer, Eloisa Bustos and Gus Miranda. I especially want to take the time to thank my partner of almost half a decade, Raymond, who has supported me and grown with me in all aspects throughout this ride. When we first met we were both starting out in our careers – we’ve worked together on design build projects as he is a handyman and furniture installer (find him on Taskrabbit!), lived together, bickered like no other, seen each other grow emotionally and professionally…and if that seat belt does give out, well…we’ll hold on to the grab bar for dear life.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Sleuth by Design is a multidisciplinary design studio focused on handmade stoneware objects, graphic design, and interiors.
A Sleuth by Design is someone who is on the look out and constantly discovering everything design. As designers we are searching and finding, making us investigators in our own right. But you don’t have to be a designer to be considered a Sleuth by Design – a Sleuth to me is someone who is curious, unafraid, and authentically shows up every day.
I’m most proud of the fact that we are still here and growing after a two year slow burn! I’m looking forward to working on some verrryyy special graphics and interiors that I can’t speak too much about right now with my family, very hush hush!!! And to developing Sleuth’s first collection of stoneware objects coming summer 2025 which I’ve photographed the concept progress of for this interview. I’m so curious to see how these ideas will translate into clay.
What set’s Sleuth apart is the energy that emits from everything we do. Our emblem is the sun and I hope that warmth and vibrancy is captured in our designs. Everything is crafted with care and colored with emotion. There is a sound to everything we do, the musicality of my childhood is imbedded into our creative process with a curated soundtrack to each season, find us on Spotify! I always share our playlists on Instagram. Our work is artfully approachable, creating meaningful and joyful connections. It is about objects that feel personal, intentional, and full of life.
Our upcoming stoneware collection is made up of pieces I will use in my every day, making each a celebration of the moment in which they are used. Ceramics take time. A typical turn around for just one piece is about 3 to 4 weeks. Depending on if it is wheel thrown or hand built it will need to be thrown or built the first week, trimmed and bisque fired the second, glazed the third, and ready for pick up the fourth. A week or so can be taken of if a piece is hand built and doesn’t need to be trimmed. In this collection most pieces are hand built while vases will be wheel thrown with added hand built details. Vases are super intentional and special for me, I’m going to push myself to make them 11 inches high, the tallest I have yet to throw. The meaning behind that specific number is that my partner Ray was born on January 11th and throughout our relationship he has made it a point to always bring home flowers, it is also a number that has followed us throughout our time and even was the number on the door of our first apartment together – very cheesy, but authentic, honest, and true.
Pieces will be one-of-one with a range of glazing options. I’m still working out the pricing due to the time that will be needed in the making of each piece, making objects thoughtfully exclusive and personally yours. It’s important to note that I’m not a production potter and have limited time and kiln space in the studio I am a member of. The pieces I hope to make in 2025 are purposeful and I don’t imaging making more than a handful of each. I struggle with “selling” because I haven’t found the right work flow of exploring my ideas and managing the thought of orders at the same time as I make everything myself.
Hopefully by the time I have all the pieces made for my home I’ll have something figured out.
I think I need to update my website now!
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
My advice to anyone starting out would be to hit the ground running and wait for no one.
A lot of the time people think that I like doing everything by myself, but what it really is a feeling of restlessness and wanting to get my ideas across.
There are a lot of creatives and friends that I would like to collaborate with but sometimes it’s hard to coordinate, and I don’t like waiting hahaha!!!
For now, I do as much as I can alone because I, physically, mentally, and emotionally, need to get the work out.
I’ve thought to myself so many times, “if no one knew I was doing this would I still do it?”, and the answer is always yes and sometimes even feels that way when the algorithm doesn’t push my work out.
Honestly, there is still a lot of stuff that I don’t know – but I’m not scared to figure things out or ask or find someone who knows and can help me find a way.
I’m excited to keep learning from people I know or have just met. As a Sleuth there is always more to learn and am grateful for the ones who take out the time to let me ask a million and one questions.
One thing I wish I knew when I was starting out, even back when I was initially signing up for my course work in college, was the balancing act of a creative life.
An important thing to note about the work flow at Sleuth is that it is not my full time. Though it is constantly top of mind; I have a full time corporate job that I’m obsessed with, I’m working towards attaining my MBA and am back at FIU where I attained my Masters of Interior Architecture, I have two wonderful pugs that need to be kissed and walked multiple times a day – might I add eating, sleeping, and doing everything else I need to do to take care of myself. – all while creating the ceramic, graphic, and interiors projects at Sleuth. If you were to ask me which of my creative endeavors is the most important? I’d have to say all of them, they each have equal importance and flow into each other in different ways.
To me creativity and health, particularly mental health, go hand in hand. The car accident I was in due to lack of sleep in college was a wake up call on how to juggle responsibilities and the pressure I put on myself to do everything I want to do, which is usually an astronomical amount haha.
While I have big dreams and ambitions, that accident put things into perspective for me and it changed my life for the better. At the end of December 2024 it will be 6 years since the accident and a little over two years into Sleuth – and I’m just getting started!
If you are like me and always have your hands on multiple projects and commitments – make it a point to check in with yourself and tap out or ask for help if you need it. Your support system is everything! Through them I feel Sleuth and I have found our way and hope you’re on your way too.
Signing off!
X Andrea Paola Vizcaino Herrada aka the OG Sleuthelina
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sleuthbydesign.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/sleuthbydesign/
- Other: https://pinterest.com/sleuthbydesign/
Image Credits
Creative Direction & Photography by Andrea Vizcaino for Sleuth by Design
Cut out sketches inspired by Amanda Tutschek, @paintmypeach
