Refinaria Design is a society of the designers Rafaela Wiedemann and Valerie Tomsic who have been working together since 1996. Its main purpose is to facilitate communication strategies through good design.
She loves to bring people together, share knowledge and take on new challenges. She graduated from PUC Rio in 1993, with a postgraduate degree in Marketing from IAG-PUC.
She breathes art, theater, cinema, music and politics. She cannot seem to read everything she wants and in her spare time cooks and cares for the plants. She graduated from UFRJ in 1995.
She likes to run around, loves the sea, sunbathes and diagram. She likes to work as a team, she is a cat and dog person, she loves art, paper and coffee. She graduated from PUC Rio in 2011.
She is from Sergipe, loves to discover new things, question, eat hamburgers without cheese and talk about mysticism. She graduated from IED SP in 2014, with a postgraduate degree in Strategic Design from IED Rio.
He Loves all types of music, playlists, visit new places, go to the beach, walk barefoot and take pictures. In design, he is passionate about editorial, motion and web design. Graduated from PUC Rio in 2015.
Known as Sunshine, she lives for the sun, breathes illustration, typography and lettering. She's the only one on the team who does not like coffee. She graduated from PUC Rio in 2016.
Web developer and musician (or vice versa), he graduated from PUC-Rio in 2001, with postgraduate degree in Strategic Design (ESPM-RJ). Currently, he is taking a masters degree at ESDI.
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WE ARE ALL DESIGNERS AND WE PROUD OURSELVES FOR FOSTERING THE ARTS , FREE THINKING, AND FOR STRUCTURING IDEAS.
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DESIGN IS A TOOL THAT ENHANCES BUSINESS AND NEEDS TO BE ACCESSIBLE AND FUNCTIONAL.
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CLIENTS ARE ALL IMPORTANT, REGARDLESS OF SIZE AND POWER.
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PARTNERSHIPS THAT PROMOTE THE FIGHT AGAINST SOCIAL INEQUALITY AND ENCOURAGE CULTURE AND SCIENCE MOBILIZE US. DIVERSITY DIVERSIDADE IS THE OXIGEN OF CREATION.
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WE BUILD ETHICAL AND LONG-LASTING RELATIONSHIPS BASED ON INTEGRITY , TRANSPARENCY, COMPLIANCE WITH LAW AND MUTUAL RESPECT.
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EVERY PROJECT HAS A CONTEXT THAT WE STUDY BEFORE BEGINNING.
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THE CREATION IS COLLECTIVE WITH A SPACE PLANNED TO INVOLVE THE ENTIRE TEAM.
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WE DO NOT DESIGN FOR DESIGNERS OR TO WIN AWARDS. WE DESIGN FOR PEOPLE.
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WE LEARN FROM ERRORS AND WE ASSUME OUR RESPONSIBILITIES..
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THE BASIS OF DESIGN IS INNOVATION . WE NEED TO BE AHEAD OF OUR TIMES.
Rafaela and Valerie met in college, during the organization of the Carioca Design Week of Design, an event created to promote design, bringing together the five faculties of Industrial Design of the time. Parallel to their jobs, they began their story in tireless double workdays. They published numerous teaching materials to distribute in Brazil (with the challenge of being in Word and being at most 1 MB!). The exhibits are: Trace , about Carioca cartoonists, at Espaço Sérgio Porto, Comic Mania, at the Flamenco Castle, and Mad 20 years at the IAB / RJ. They left the living room for a room in Ipanema.
They formalized the company Malagueta Design and lived intensely six years of dedication to the company. During this time, they served clients in the various areas of design: visual identity and the setting of exhibitions (Brazilian Academy of Letters, Light Cultural Center, Indian Museum, SEBRAE and BNDES); press-release and packaging (Coty and L’Oréal); leaflet (Getulio Vargas Foundation and SENAC); Merchandising for Point of Sale-PDV (Shell and Souza Cruz). Rafaela published an article about inspiration in the Graphic Design magazine and participated in a Graphic Design meeting in Tokyo, Japan. They published the newspaper Ô to publicize the work of the company. They left the room in Ipanema and settled in a town house in Botafogo.
They set up Refinaria Design – a company that is already born with six years of experience. They created and held the Tabajara Exhibition, celebrating the 10 years of the TV program Casseta & Planeta, at the Rio Sul Shopping Center. They conceived and set up exhibitions for BNDES: Nature and Art in Central Brazil, Meninas Geraes and PAIS. The clients arrive: Eh! Films, Ipiranga, Losango, Petrobras, Petroflex, Rede Globo, Sandra Werneck and Technip, the majority, with the Refinaria to this day. They published the portfolio in the Graphic Design magazine. They received the label Rio Makes Design for the packaging project of AMPM of Ipiranga. They diagramed the Book Animation now, from Taschen Publishing (Germany). They moved from Botafogo to a room in Leblon.
They designed the graphic pieces of the Anima Mundi festival and are part of the team of Dupla Design for the development of the Look of the Games of the XV Pan American Games Rio 2007. They worked daily with Losango (HSBC), which is elected one of the 150 Best Companies to Work for the magazine Exame Você S/A. In the area of publications, in partnership with Print Comunicação, they made the book of Soldan for Firjan, the annual report of Embratel, the 10 years of the Press Award book and the record book of COMPERJ works. They created the visual identity of the Posto Eco-eficiente Ipiranga seal and designed the pieces for the pilot station. They were invited to create a poster for the Global Forum for Sport and Environment (G-ForSE) event organized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP, Spain). They started a partnership with the Gol de Letra Foundation, being responsible for the graphic design of the institution's annual reports. They remained in Leblon.
In addition to the contract with Losango, they established a continuous working relationship with the Desiderata Institute, Uqbar and Technip. They were contracted by BNDES to design all the pieces of the institution. They created visual identity for theater and cinema – from capture projects to posters and programs. They worked endlessly for the real estate market (Even, Calçada, Cyrela, PDG and Odebrecht), developing the visual programming of launch stands. They produced about 10 annual reports per year for BNDES, the Amazon Fund, the Minor's Crusade, the Desiderata Institute, Rede Globo (social area) and Fundação Gol de Letra. They worked again in big events supporting the Look of the Games of the Rio de Janeiro Military World Games. Rafaela and Valerie were invited to join the Anima Mundi Professional Jury. The team increased and received training to develop e-books, folios (digital publications for tablets) and websites! They moved to their own headquarters in Leblon, after transforming a machine shop into an office. Afternoon coffee became an institution.
The office is increasingly able to attend projects online, without losing the print. They created and developed numerous websites and email marketing campaigns, as well as posts for social networks. They were selected to take care of all the visual identity and signage of the Hyatt Hotel in Rio de Janeiro which consists of 3 restaurants, 1 SPA, in addition to all the hotel's back of house and front of house signage. They started a new contract with BNDES and took care of all the communication and editorial production of the Bank. They continued to attend the Desiderata Institute and take care of all the dissemination of the 4th Forum of Pediatric Oncology. The members Rafaela and Valerie completed 10 years as Jury professionals of the Anima Mundi Festival. After uprooting the centennial tropical plant that was in front of the store, they planted the yellow Ipé named Naomi. They decided to make the whole collection public with more than 700 design books for students and interested parties to consult. Tubira Street, the office's headquarters, became a meeting place for people and is known as a gastronomic point, where several events take place.
refinaria@refinariadesign.com.br
+55 21 2540_7996 2529_6699 2540_7863
Rua Tubira, 8B - LeblonCEP: 22441-070Rio de Janeiro - RJBrasil