A Thoughtful Approach to Creative Consulting

A creator’s stance, not an agency

To accompany a project is to enter its rhythm. To listen, observe, and guide without imposing. What I offer is a presence, a vision built over time, through experience and attention to detail. Apply formulas is far from my creative process.

For over two decades, I have developed, directed, and refined creative identities across various cultures: Morocco, India, France, Belgium, Spain, Vietnam, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Egypt. These years have shaped a practice that balances intuition and structure, concept and material, vision and execution. Each project is approached with the same intention: to bring depth, alignment, and aesthetic clarity.

→ Learn more about my background

portrait valerie barkowski consulting
© Delphine Warin

Creating Space for What Needs to Emerge

I am often invited in at the earliest stage, when ideas are still finding their form. Other times, I am asked to reframe, refine, or re-align an existing project. My involvement adapts to each context: sometimes brief and surgical, sometimes long-term and immersive. Always respectful. Always precise.

What I bring is a sensibility, a capacity to clarify without overdesigning. A desire to build meaning with honesty and care

Areas of Focus

Creative Direction & Brand Development

From the very first sketch of an idea, I help shape design identities that are both expressive and enduring. Together, we define a structure that holds an aesthetic language that resonates beyond trends. This work is not about superficial image, but about foundation, alignment and long-term clarity.

Hospitality Concept & Experience Design

A hotel is not simply a place, it is a temporary home, a sensory journey, a place where every detail shapes the guest’s experience. I intervene to build the concept, define the tone, and bring coherence from architecture to textile, from ambiance to detail. Every element should contribute to a cohesive experience, felt rather than told.

See the Dak Kawa project

Bespoke Product & Textile Development

I design custom textile pieces, limited series, and home accessories that extend a space or express a message. Each creation begins with a dialogue, of place, of need, of meaning. The emphasis is always on precision, craftsmanship, and the value of what takes time.

Artistic Direction & Editorial Identity

Defining a project’s artistic direction means making its intention visible. It’s about revealing its inner structure, through material choices, visual rhythm, and the balance between what is shown and what is suggested.
I work to create a unity of tone. A line that runs through space, image, word. A visual language that articulates purpose, clearly, calmly, with depth. Each element, a textile, a colour, a phrasing, a scale, is chosen to embody the same coherence. Nothing is added. Everything is considered. Because what we see must carry what we mean.

Team Structuring & Creative Coordination

A strong concept needs an operational structure. I help to set up the project structure and to connect the right people, set up tools and methods, and to ensure that execution aligns with intention. The goal: to make the creative process legible, fluid, and human.

A Deliberate, Selective Engagement

I work on few projects by choice. Each one is the result of a mutual resonance, and of a shared desire to create something with meaning. What I offer is a blend of sensitivity and structure, of freedom and precision. There is no system, no formula. Just an approach built on trust and intention.

Independence matters, both mine and my clients. The relationship must remain clear, fluid, and open. Creative partnership is a space for mutual elevation, where each perspective contributes to a coherent and lasting form.

What brings us together

Global design. Timeless aesthetics. A strong sense of place. Creative ethics. Storytelling. A taste for the right gesture. My work is for those seeking a sensitive approach, a demanding eye, and a way of thinking that is both poetic and structural.

A Space for Committed Projects

When time allows, I support committed initiatives. Sometimes it’s through pro bono consulting, sometimes through a specific collaboration. Always with the same care: creating pieces that carry intention and respect the values that guide my work.

To Get in Touch

If something needs to take shape, we can start there. Write to info@valeriebarkowski.com. Let’s see if our intuitions meet.

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