ABOUT US
ENVELOPE is a creative agency and community art space based in Richmond, Virginia — a multimodal platform where one can interact at the intersection of media, nature, and politics. As a creative agency, we offer various services ranging from art direction and design to interior design and event planning. As a community art space, we curate exhibitions, host art markets, organize skill shares, and invite a wide range of programming to encourage discussions around contemporary topics. If you’re interested in working together at some capacity, please reach out at contact@envelope.services︎
SERVICES ︎︎︎As a full-service creative agency, we offer everything from branding and website design to content production, interior design & fabrication. Through a combination of cultural literacy, market research, and community engagement, we ensure thoughtful and memorable visual communications. Our methods are backed by over 10 years of experience and an agile approach to creative production that will cater to your business needs. Take a look at our select work samples HERE, or just reach out and let us know how we can help at contact@envelope.services
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ART DIRECTION
Whether it's a photo campaign to promote a new product or a collection of illustrations for an event series, we can help create the visual language needed for your brand to shine.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
With over 14 years of experience, we offer a wide range of design services from logos, brand identities, and print design, to social and web design.
Whether it's a photo campaign to promote a new product or a collection of illustrations for an event series, we can help create the visual language needed for your brand to shine.
GRAPHIC DESIGN
With over 14 years of experience, we offer a wide range of design services from logos, brand identities, and print design, to social and web design.
PHOTO/VIDEOGRAPHY
Need a production team? We can offer photo/videoography, sound, and post-production to help you see your production through to completion.
SPACIAL DESIGN AND FABRICATION
Want to make your business stand out with a custom interior? Is it time to update the decor of your restaurant? Need someone to help you create your custom backsplash or mural in your home? We got you covered.
Need a production team? We can offer photo/videoography, sound, and post-production to help you see your production through to completion.
SPACIAL DESIGN AND FABRICATION
Want to make your business stand out with a custom interior? Is it time to update the decor of your restaurant? Need someone to help you create your custom backsplash or mural in your home? We got you covered.
ART BUYING
If you are interested in buying work from our resident artist, or are looking for a new piece for your collection, we can help you find the right art for your price range and personal needs.
ART STUDIO RENTAL
We offer competitively priced art studios in a community space located in the center of Richmond, Virginia’s gallery district.
If you are interested in buying work from our resident artist, or are looking for a new piece for your collection, we can help you find the right art for your price range and personal needs.
ART STUDIO RENTAL
We offer competitively priced art studios in a community space located in the center of Richmond, Virginia’s gallery district.
– Drawing (Tables, rulers, light table, large cutting board, matte cutter, Airbrush)
– Woodworking (chopsaw, bandsaw, drill press, jigsaw, drill/driver, hammer, hand saw, chisels, etc.)
– Ceramics (Pottery wheel, kiln, miscellaneous clay tools, small selection of glazes)
– Stained glass (Cutters, sanders, solders, scrap glass, etc)
– Printmaking (Small print press, linocut tools, Intaglio tools, inkjet printer)
– Photography (Canon 7d, 35mm lens, 50-120mm lens, macro lens, two studio lights, lightboxes, and a grey seamless backdrop.
PLUS, WiFi, a communal kitchen/fridge, printer & resource library, plant lounge. Photos coming soon! Until then, above is a layout of the space. Reach out if you are interested in a space and want to schedule a viewing. contact@envelope.services
GALLERY ︎︎︎Our gallery space is a place where we explore ideas from local and international minds through curated exhibitions and programming such as screenings, workshops, pubic talks, and art markets. While we are open to perspectives from all walks of life, we especially value work that engages in topics around social justice, ecology, new media, speculative futures, and by queer and historically underrepresented communities. Overall, we hope to create a space where people can safely engage in critical discourse and share new ways of perceiving the world. To submit an event proposal, email us at contact@envelope.services ︎
PHILOSOPHY ︎︎︎ Envelope is threshold.
In architecture, the envelope refers to the physical boundary that separates interior from exterior — the public from the private. Depending on its design, this envelope can range from an open, welcoming park pavilion to a rigid, impenetrable border wall. The connection between design and the experiences it fosters extends beyond the physical realm, as seen in the digital interfaces we engage with daily and the habits they shape. This echo’s Henk Oosterling’s poignant axiom, “Dasein ist Design,” in which he suggests that in a world where everything is aesthetically considered, engineered, marketed, and consumed, existence itself is a form of design or art.
Envelope is mirror.
In metaphysics, the envelope can also be viewed as a wall of sort, one that defines the boundaries of intersecting ideas. These boundaries form what Peter Sloterdijk describes in his book Bubbles as ontological “immune systems.” These “bubbles” of existence—shaped and sustained by the atmospheric conditions of a particular time, place, and community—emerge through the proliferation of ideas and the exchanges that occur on both individual and global scales. Metaphysical envelopes that offer a topological lens through which we can reflect and understand the phenomenological forces driving what is commonly refered to as globalization.
Envelope is biome.
Bruno Latour, the anthropologist behind Actor Network Theory, adopted elements of Sloterdijk’s ideas to expand his own work, particularly in areas of political and ecological studies. For Latour, the envelope became a metaphor for the Biosphere — the thin layer of Earth where all life exists — and the political actors who shape decisions regarding the planet's health. Known for his critique of epistemological traditions, Latour came to adopt the power of art to communicate hybrid concepts and bridge gaps between nature and culture. At the core of his work was his desire to raise concern for the Earth’s “critical zones” — the fragile areas essential for life.
Envelope is community.
It’s at this intersection of the arts, nature, and politics, that our own conceptual envelope begins to take form. Through thoughtful exhibitions, publications, and programming, Envelope aims to create a space where new ideas can be developed and nurtured. It‘s a space where tactics for liberation can be tested through art actions and performance. A space where radical kindness and ancestral rage can coexist in the face of anachronistic tradition. A space where the natural world is regarded as family and social welfare is prioritized above all else. A space where, under the pressure of critical discourse, we can challenge the integrity of old paradigms—oxidizing the Occidental, eroding the monumental, and embracing the aberrant.
This is a space where, as a community of creative thinkers, we can synthesize the challenges that time presents us, and cultivate a permacultural approach to human growth and solidarity. We invite you to join us as we venture into the unknown.