Hi!
We are Ioana and Marissa, trained architects searching for a better way to connect people to place. In 2017, we launched Atelier Cue, a collaborative design and fabrication studio specializing in place-making, community engagement, and the creation of architectural works of art.
We believe that places and public artworks are most beloved when they tell a story unearthed from within a community. We create work that supports a sense of belonging and ownership, and which encourages people to interact with a site and with one another.
The Atelier has become a stage for connecting the art of design and the craft of making. Essential to our method is a process of experimentation, prototyping, and fabrication which ensures a sense of both high-design and hand-craft in our work.
Each of our installations is influenced by the unique community, site, and architectural background in which it will come to life. Similarly, the design team for every project is distinct: a creative collaboration led by Atelier Cue between client, community, and our network of fabricators, curated specifically for each project.
The name? It comes from the whimsical curlicue, a prevalent graphic in the visual and decorative arts which can be both precise and unpredictable.
Atelier Cue is a certified Women-owned Business Enterprise.
Our Team
Ioana Barac is a designer and fabricator with expertise in conceptual creation and spatial development, from 2D pattern and shallow relief to elaborate, large scale 3-dimensional sculptural works. Ioana has a Master of Architecture from Yale University where she received the Moulton Andrus Award for Excellence in Art and Architecture.
Marissa Dionne Mead is a licensed architect and a sculptor experienced in multiple mediums, including wood, aluminum, bronze-casting, and fiberglass. She earned a Bachelor of Architecture with honors from the University of Notre Dame, with a concentration in Furniture Design.
Ioana and Marissa first met and collaborated under the mentorship of famed local ornamenter Kent Bloomer and master craftsman William Jelley with whom they worked as Bloomer Studio’s principal design associates for 10 and 3 years, respectively. The most prominent projects they collaborated on at Bloomerstudio were the sculptural ornamentation for Slover Memorial Library in Norfolk, VA, and for Flats 8300 Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, MD.
Their shared experience in ornamenting buildings, parks, and bridges, and their shared passion for the hand-made object led to the founding of Atelier Cue. From concept sketches to installation, their work is developed through physical and digital visualizing, model-making and prototyping, employing new and traditional technologies of fabrication.
