The Beginnings. Or: What an Interview That Changes a Career Looks Like
My first interaction with inner*pride took place at an interview. I was in my second year of my master’s at the Faculty of Plastic Arts and Design — full of theory, enthusiasm, and the selective blindness that all students have when they believe they know more than they do. The conversation was short, direct, without frills. But the chemistry with George was immediate. It’s not something you can fabricate or plan — it’s that rare feeling that you’ve arrived where you’re supposed to be, even if you have no concrete idea what awaits you. That was the beginning. As for intentions, I found out later that I had already put them in writing.
The First Year. Or: Everything University Can’t Teach You
The first year wasn’t easy, and it shouldn’t have been. It was a process of accelerated recovery — a sudden break between the academic world, where time is elastic and feedback is gentle, and the reality of a branding studio, where decisions have consequences, deadlines don’t negotiate, and no one explains the same thing to you twice. That’s when I discovered things no university curriculum can truly teach you: the weight of creative responsibility, the discipline of execution, the fundamental difference between a good idea and a solution that actually works. University shapes the eye. Practice shapes the judgment.
The First Major Projects: Responsibility and Recognition
The major involvements came quickly. The project that marked the beginning of my career was Vector, working both on the corporate brand and on the premium stationery retail chain Autograf, where I was introduced to the secrets of retail branding — an area where inner*pride excels. Seven Hills — a Cambridge-accredited school — was my first project with direct responsibility, with everything that entails: decisions owned, high standards, real deliverables. BrightWater Landing followed, perhaps the most significant project from an aesthetic and professional standpoint during that period. A system built on a coherent ecosystem of icons that received international recognition through selection in LogoLounge 10 — the first confirmation that our work went beyond local borders. That’s not a small thing. It’s the kind of moment that calibrates your standards for everything that follows.
Professional Evolution and National Projects
In 2015, the collaboration with the IULIUS group — one of Romania’s most important real estate developers — marked a new level of complexity and scale. What followed were projects built together that are today visual landmarks in the national landscape and across Eastern Europe: Iulius Town and RIVUS, each with its own distinct identity, each held to a standard matching the client’s ambitions. These projects aren’t just portfolio pieces. They’re proof that a studio from Romania can produce branding at international standards, without compromise.
Projects That Mature a Team
Some projects push you beyond your comfort zone. ASIROM was one of them — a thorough, demanding project that transformed a still-forming team into a genuinely mature one, with the reflexes of an international studio. Musette brought something different: refinement, obsessive attention to detail, the courage to make visual choices that aren’t justified by rational arguments but by cultivated intuition. And then Blue Air — the launchpad into aviation branding, a field in which inner*pride remains, to this day, the only Romanian agency with a consistent and credible portfolio. Each of these projects left a mark not just on the portfolio, but on the way we think and work. Iași Airport — a project that set new standards in aesthetics, branding, and, not least, in national-level wayfinding and information signage. A truly trailblazing project.
Our Metaphor: “Diamond Cutters”
At the 10-year mark alongside inner*pride, George showed me that he still keeps the email I sent him at the end of my probation period. In it, I wrote that I hoped, together with them, to become “diamond cutters” — a metaphor for how I saw branding: patience, precision, and the desire to bring out the authentic value hidden in every brand.
From Junior to Partner: More Than Titles
From junior to senior, from art director to partner — my path within inner*pride was never linear, and it couldn’t have been. It was a succession of contexts that forced me to grow, of people who held me accountable, and of projects that never let you stay the same. Beyond titles, what remains is the team. Engaged, demanding of itself, oriented toward evolution. A team that hasn’t just built brands, but people too. And for that, my gratitude is sincere and without reservation.
16 Years Later. And Still Branding.
There’s a thought you often hear in spontaneous conversations among those who’ve spent years in this studio: if we started over, we’d do exactly the same thing. Not out of inertia, but out of conviction.
Branding isn’t a profession you choose once. It’s one you reconfirm in every project, in every decision, in every iteration that isn’t good enough yet. After 16 years, I know I’d still end up here.
Happy anniversary to me, at inner*pride.