Karen Mainenti
Creative Director | Brand + Product Development Expert | Visual Artist
- Role
- Visual Artist at Karen Mainenti Studio
- Location
- New York, NY, US
- LinkedIn followers
- 500 followers
About Karen Mainenti
I’m a creative leader with deep experience shaping brand strategy, product design, and packaging across the home, lifestyle, and fragrance industries. I’ve led design for globally recognized brands—from launching product lines at Martha Stewart Living to developing private-label programs at Alene Candles and setting global creative direction at PartyLite.In 2016, I launched Karen Mainenti Design, a boutique consultancy focused on delivering thoughtful, visually compelling solutions for product development, brand identity, and creative direction.Grounded in a longstanding visual art practice, I explore femininity, consumer culture, and material history through painting, sculpture, and installation. I bring an artist’s eye to every aspect of my design work—from concept to execution—and believe that meaningful storytelling is what makes brands resonate.In addition, I’m an active arts advocate and former board chair, serving on the Arts Gowanus board in Brooklyn. karenmainentidesign.com | karenmainenti.com
Experience
Visual Artist
Jan 2006 — Present · New York, NY, US
Through my studio practice, I explore themes of femininity, consumer culture, and material history—working across painting, sculpture, and installation. Drawing on the visual language of products, packaging, and advertising, my work examines how ideals around beauty and perfection are constructed, sold, and recycled over time.Using materials and techniques including drawing, painting, casting, and collage, I reimagine everyday objects and ephemera to expose the tensions between surface and substance, allure and absurdity, nostalgia and critique. Humor, often deadpan, underpins this process, inviting closer inspection of the systems of desire and disposal embedded in contemporary culture.Exhibitions include:Solo exhibitions at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Bard Graduate Center Library, Ground Floor Gallery, and Chashama.Group exhibitions at the Every Woman Biennial, National Arts Club, Louise Nevelson Chapel, and Established Gallery.Press coverage includes:ARTnews, Artnet News, Hyperallergic, and The Believer Magazine, among others.Residency:Artist-in-Residence, Bard Graduate Center Library (2018)
Education
Co-Active Training Institute
Certified Professional Co-Active Coach
2020 — 2021
Fashion Institute of Technology
Certificate in Introduction to Perfumery, Givaudan Creative Fragrance Program
2012 — 2012
Fairfield University
BA, Fine Arts Major, Marketing Minor, Magna Cum Laude
1992 — 1996
School of Visual Arts
Summer Residency Program: Painting and Mixed Media
2013 — 2013
Skills
- Interior Design
- Textiles
- Fashion
- Coaching & Mentoring
- Photo Shoots
- Graphic Design
- Branding & Identity
- Graphics
- Retail
- Mac
- Layout
- Digital Illustration
- Image Manipulation
- Illustrator
- Sketching
- Typography
- Industrial Design
- Merchandising
- Product Development
- Indesign
- Creative Direction
- Art
- Catalogs
- Textile Design
- Visual Communication
- Interaction Design
- Product Design
- Logo Design
- Design Strategy
- Drawing
- Photography
- Brand Development
- Corporate Identity
- Adobe Illustrator
- Magazines
- Concept Development
- Collage
- Trend
- Photoshop
- Creative Strategy
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