Amandine Piango is the figure behind Paris-based communications agency, Ritalined. The experimental communications agency was born as a result of Piango’s ability to identify and analyse the roots of a problem early on in the creative industries. Recognising the difficulties of many young talents that are often left undiscovered, Ritalined was her instinctual response to go against the outdated structures that are designed to promote the same names and faces and further, reduce digital pollution.
SLEEK spoke with Amandine on the challenges surrounding the idea of “timing,” working alone and being a female leader in the fashion industry.
Amandine Piango in Nike. Photography by Edgar Berg.
SLEEK: What exactly is Ritalined? Why do you think now is the right time for a platform like this?
Amandine Piango: Ritalined is a press office that highlights young designers who have something to say and are far from panurgy. With a history and set values that go beyond the “trendy” and with inimitable creativity. Ritalined is a project that is in constant evolution, mutation. It is a communication agency with an experimental touch that is essential.
When I started Ritalined, it wasn’t the most ideal timing because the concept was considered avant-garde. Very few people, for a long time, understood my vision. But I think if you’re looking for the timing, it’s never really the right time, particularly when doing a project for passion. Setting up a project like Ritalined was more a matter of personal feeling, coupled with a visceral desire that I couldn’t tame so, I went for it. Then there was the advice I had been given 10 years ago not to neglect young designers because they are the future. That’s how I orient my work and experiences toward young designers.
I had my eye on young designers for years and was on the lookout for new creative talents that would thrill me with their fresh creativity and audacity. I’m talking about the pre-Instagram era, where if a young designer was not in the press office, to discover them, the connection had to be made by word of mouth. At the time, it really was a very niche world. Almost inaccessible. The analysis of my experience led me to believe that there had to be a place where young designers could be found easily, have access to them without the lengthy search and the curation of designers would be done beforehand. My idea was to allocate a space where there would be the cream of the crop, only little but strong creative candies ready to explode, and that’s how RITALINED was born.
The particularity compared to other press offices is that each year (pre-Covid) I put in place a common lookbook (to present my designers), by inviting a stylist and a photographer to shoot the collections of the list of designers, all grouped into the same lookbook. With this idea, I wanted to create visual equality between the designers, interwoven with an ecological concern that translates into the desire to reduce digital pollution.
Amandine Piango in Nike. Photography by Edgar Berg.
S: You studied visual communication and design. How did this set you up for your career choices? When and why did you know that you wanted to be in PR?
AP: The word that comes to my mind is serendipity! I first did a Master 1 in Economics at the Sorbonne and I thought to do political science and ENA to work at the Ministry of Economy or Culture – I was a fan of economics and sociology.
During my degree, I had to complete an internship and my best friend who was already an intern at Totem, a communication agency, referred me and it worked out right away. From communication strategy to the organisation of a fashion show, I loved what I was learning – it was exciting and challenging and more surprisingly, there was even designer scouting. After 3 months, they offered me to join as an employee, but it wasn’t the right time for me.
Then I did another master’s degree in international business and negotiation in a business school which allowed me to travel and learn about other cultures. I lived in Seoul for my M1 in negotiation and I thought I’d be a buyer at the time. For my Master 2, I did a double master’s and that’s when I did visual communication and design in Chicago. Over the years of my various professional and human experiences, I wanted to be independent and create my own communication agency.
At the base, in the encounters I had during my professional travels notably during my time as a talent scout, I noticed an increased demand from designers looking for a place where they could communicate about their creations in alternative to digital platforms like Not Just a Label. It’s post-Brexit back in Paris that I had found the job I loved and for which I had real talent. So, I opened my agency in late 2018.
Amandine Piango in Nike. Photography by Edgar Berg.
S: Have there been any struggles along the way?
AP: It’s a real challenge to start a business alone. If you don’t get up in the morning and you get sick, there is no partner to have your back. There are moments of loneliness in the beginning before you find your place and establish yourself. Then every day is a challenge – you are confronted with internal and external battles that can be your worst enemies but also your best friends. It allows you to re-double your efforts and to reach this will, this formidable force that has an incredible effect and makes you move mountains…then I’m challenged with the biggest battle, which is to be a black woman in the fashion industry. Even now not all problems are solved though there are small appreciable improvements. Let’s hope that they will be perennial.
S: In another interview, you said: “Collaboration is the strength of our community we think of each other, it’s like a family.” It seems a sense of community has always been at the core of all of your endeavours. How important is it for women in the creative industries to form strong networks?
AP: It’s important to have the support of others by having your own support first. We often think that we can do it alone but sometimes you need the intervention of another person for a small detail but it’s the detail that changes everything. That’s why I used the term family, it’s important to be surrounded by people who believe in you and support you. Working with others is truly a strength. We pull each other up. I like this idea of a creative tree diagram.
Amandine Piango in Nike. Photography by Edgar Berg.
S: Your entrepreneurial spirit never stops – firstly with LVMH then Not Just A Label, and now with Ritalined. How do you balance the everyday and creativity?
AP: This is a question, which I don’t really have the answer to, but I think I am a passionate person. When I love it, I give it my all and I have ideas that surface. I love projects. I could spend my life creating projects or helping to find creative solutions, it stimulates me and above all, I love the adrenaline and risk-taking associated with the entrepreneurial adventure. It’s an emotional elevator every day.
It also requires a lot of contemplation, empathy, humility, but courage, intuition and questioning to be creative and renew your creativity. I try not to limit my creativity and therefore artistically, I diversify, I make bridges between several domains that I like and as a little bit of my trademark, I don’t like to limit myself to one thing as my reasoning is wider.
You have to push back the boundaries and codes and reinvent yourself each time on the solid foundations you have achieved. In the end, you mustn’t lose yourself in all this, keep your feet on the ground and be very rigorous with a pinch of lightness.
S: Finally, what advice would you give to young women looking to start their own business?
AP: The road is full of pitfalls, you need perseverance and a lot of resilience. Work is the only thing that pays off, even if they throw a wrench in the gears you must know that nothing is impossible. You start by sowing seeds that make flowers then they are harvested to go to a florist then they will end up in a beautiful vase on a table in someone’s living room ;).
All this to say that every little step as insignificant as it can be is not negligible. There are no failures, just experiences that make you learn and understand. These failures/experiences are necessary for your advancement, it is the way to test your desire to succeed and to carry out your project/enterprise to the end. The distance between your dreams and reality is discipline and perseverance. When you do things with desire and passion you will always find the strength to go forward, the most magical thing is that the perceived difficulty is as great as the joy you feel when you overcome it.