C.S Valentin is a french Creative Director and Designer based in Mexico City.
He’s expertise range from boutique hotels to restaurants, retail spaces, and residential projects as well as furniture and object design.
C.S Valentin Graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he studied under Annette Messager and Sophie Calle. Valentin debuted in the design world as Art Director for jewelry brand Marie-Helène de Taillac in Paris and Tokyo. In London, he ran the Worldwide Visual Department of fashion brand Joseph.
He then moved to New York to run North America Visual Department for Miu Miu, before joining designer Olivier Theyskens at Theory. Valentin launched his activity as a freelance creative director in 2014 and was commissioned to design the luxury boutique hotel, Hotel Esencia, in the Mexican Mayan Riviera.
In 2015, he was named Creative Director of the Chaya Restaurant Group in California, responsible for the reboot of the design and branding. The same year, Valentin launched a furniture and textile brand, Bogus Studio opening their first showroom in Soho. In 2016, he was commissioned for his first residential project in Bellport, NY. In 2018, he ended up opening the Bellport General, a design and fashion store paired to a trendy coffee shop, teaming with his client and friend.
Valentin moved to Mexico City in 2019 to continue his collaboration with the furniture brand and design studio Atra. In 2022 he was named designer and creative director of a small luxury hotel on a private island off Belize that will open in 2023.
Karla Lisker Photographed C.S Valentin his Roma Norte home.
TIME AFTER TIME
Morning routine: I usually prepare something that involves avocado.
Drink of choice: Cold brew green tea… and champagne.
Nighttime ritual: Biologique Recherche lotion P50 and some Korean snail serum.
Favorite workout: A 3 hours hike in nature.
Current uniform: I m very monochromatic. I guess some people think of me as the guy dressed in all white or all green. So yes all white look is my uniform. I like the chalenge of going through the day doing messy activities and not getting stained.
FOR THE TIME BEING
Book you’re reading: It’s a Met catalog: The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512-1570. On how this family used their public image to install their power.
Song or album on repeat: SZA, SOS, 2022.
Most-used app: I started using the downtime function to lock me out of Instagram. It seems to be working.
TV show you’re watching: I have a pretty wide spectrum, from sci-fi, heroic fantasy to teen dramas.
Last movie you saw: I watch a lot of movies but my favorite movies this year that didn’t get an Oscar are Tár and Triangle of Sadness.
Artist who inspires you at the moment: From Bronzino to Donald Judd to Adrián Villar Rojas to George Frideric Handel.
Best recent discovery: Scuba diving on the Belizean coral reef
QUIET TIME
Self-care strategies: Baking an Italian chocolate or orange cake from scratch.
Can’t-live-without-it beauty product: An orange blossom or rose water face mist and a papaya lip balm.
Place where you go to relax: I have a thing for public parks and botanical gardens.
PASTTIME
Off-duty activity or hobby: Hosting friends for dinners or parties.
Favorite charity that’s worth your time: Any charity involved in supporting LGBTQ youth with rejecting family/estranged parents.
Guilty pleasure to (wonderfully) waste your time: Endlessly nerding on Wikipedia.
OF ALL TIME
Smartest advice ever received: Allowing doubt, showing empathy.
Most inspiring trip: Hopefully it is yet to come. Not a trip per se, but I used to live in Tokyo for two years and it changed and inspired me for ever since.
Best gift you ever got: I’m someone that friends and family probably consider hard to please because I’m very specific with the objects I buy. So the best gift I received are probably more experiences. Trips or meals or concert tickets.
Most memorable meal: Maybe my first time at Fergus Henderson’s St. John in London, probably around 1996 with my mom.
TIMELESS
Three objects you think will stand the test of time: Paper books. Far superior to the digital version. Japanese Incense. Centuries old yet the best scent for my house. Pen & paper. I use the Notes app a lot, but certain ideas have to be written down on paper.
What’s your next project?
I’m designing and creative directing a small luxury hotel on a private island in Belize in the Caribbean and I'm also opening a new gallery in Mexico City named Tuberosa presenting indoor/outdoor furniture, plants, flowers and home goods for garden, terrace and balcony.
What are you looking forward to in 2023?
To find time to see my friends, to travel to new cities/countries. To learn new skills.
TIME WILL TELL
Ten years from now, you will: Hopefully live closer to nature and work in a different creative field.
Invention or innovation you most want to see in the future: Fusion energy/clean energy and a smart regulation and usage of AI that doesn’t threaten our jobs and economy.
