About the LLC, the Showroom, and the Principals. . .

Lavezzo Designs, LLC

Lavezzo Designs LLC, is a full service design group offering customized design solutions for home, office, and outdoor settings. The company was started in 1995 when a small group of San Francisco Bay Area designers and metal craftspeople merged their talents and created a design and metal fabrication studio with a strong desire to meet clients’ needs with innovative and beautiful solutions. From its beginnings the group’s mission has been to provide unique, beautifully engineered designs in metals and other media including wood, glass and fabric. The company works closely with clients to create the most elegantly simple solution to each and every design problem and to create hand crafted products that look as if they have been made by someone who cares, because they are.

The Founders:

Robert Lavezzo, head fabricator

Robert Lavezzo began his career as a metal craftsman in 1978.He apprenticed under the owner of Ron Nunes Enterprises, Ron Nunes. The company was then well-known for working with different alloys for the nuclear industry and doing prototypes for the young and growing Silicon Valley. Working within this company Robert learned the skills of welding, layout, machining, precision sheet metal, and precision structural fabrication. It didn't take long for him to become the top fabricator in the company. Some of Robert's accomplished highlights at RNE include: making the first floppy disk ovens for Verbatim Co., prototype work for Airco Temescal, break-through stainless steel work for Lawrence Livermore Lab, and numerous other one-off projects. Working in the very technical company demanded a high degree of skill and an excellent sense of conceptualizing how pieces interact with each other and as part of the whole. The skills Robert Lavezzo Developed while working for this company formed the foundation of his craft. One can find Robert practicing Aikido on his time away from the studio. He holds the rank of shodan (black belt).

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Janelle Renée, co-owner from 1995-2006

Before co-founding Lavezzo Designs in 1995, Janelle Renée ran the Electron Microscopy Department as Failure Analysis Engineer at Seagate Magnetics, a leading maker of disk drives in the Silicon Valley. Though she was successful at her work, she was unfulfilled by it. Destiny intervened when she made the acquaintance of Robert Lavezzo. They put their heads together and decided to open a design and fabrication studio dedicated to making one of a kind, high-end furniture and home accessories. Janelle was the head designer at Lavezzo Designs until late 2006. She is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of Lavezzo Designs, but does free-lance design for the company as the need arises or when clients request her design services specifically, as she is currently living in Brescia, Italy teaching English.

In addition to wandering through Italian villages, Janelle's hobbies include writing and photography. Her work was on exhibit at the Gallery @ Lavezzo Designs in September 2007. Her photography is available for purchase here. You can read more about her and her life at her blog, Just Thoughts.

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If you are a designer, architect or engineer, and you have a project you need help with, e-mail our Metal Fabrication Studio to discuss your metal fabrication needs. The Fabrication Studio's hourly consultation rate is $85/hour, and we are happy to provide you with a written proposal for your project.