Inspiration, Invention & Innovation
Patrick Minervini, currently located in Colorado, spent his life honing a unique combination of skills. This has allowed him to produce beautiful, creative artistry in a variety of media. He is unique in his ability to create artwork that upholds the most revered traditions while also taking advantage of the latest materials and technology.
As a child in New Jersey Pat was happiest when he created things from ideas leading to sketches and resulting in models. Given his interests it was comfortable to enter college anticipating a career in engineering. However, his on-campus exposure to the fine arts awakened what became a life-long passion. He ultimately graduated with a BA in Art Education and, based on his college experience, a fascination with pottery.
After graduation Pat was hired by the high school he had attended and taught there for seven years. His goal, which he largely achieved, was to help his students make academic and life decisions through exposure to a variety of fine arts including: sculpture, drawing, ceramics, jewelry and painting. Pat hoped to help others discover their own hidden passions.
During this period Pat’s fascination with pottery continued and, ultimately, he left teaching and moved to Warwick, NY and built a pottery studio. His engineering talent was critical in the design and building of a state-of-the-art kiln. This combination of these skills and artistic talent produced a number beautiful pieces and ultimately resulted in a pair of one-person gallery shows in Manhattan.
While operating his studio Pat became a competitive road cyclist. In 1990 a cycle racing friend introduced him to the owner of a bicycle importing and wholesaling company. Shortly after their meeting where bicycling and art were discussed Pat moved to North Carolina and became a designer in the bicycle industry. Pat and his team designed bicycle apparel, shoes and frame designs. Once again, along with his artistry, engineering skills were critical in creating bicycle frames using leading-edge new materials and innovative geometries. These advanced designs and materials have become standards in the cycling industry.
While in North Carolina Pat met a gentleman heavily involved in building 18th century Queen Anne furniture. Pat was intrigued and began to build beautiful reproductions of complex designs. He mastered this very complex art very quickly.
Another acquaintance made while in North Carolina perceived the value of Pat’s skills in consumer marketing. As a result of this contact, Pat spent the next five years in New Jersey creating packaging and graphics for a major corporation that marketed consumer products including Lysol, French’s, Airwick, Electro-Sol and many others. During this time, the world was transitioning from standardized art production methods to computer-based 3D rendering, and Pat was one of the first designers to successfully apply the new methods to industry.
Ultimately, Pat decided to return to the pursuit of artistic excellence under his own direction. He also wanted to join his brother as a resident of Colorado. He created PM Designs LLC as the umbrella for his activities. Interestingly, one of the products of PM Designs was a standup desk/workstation. This was in 2008, long before these desks were popular. He was granted a U.S. patent and launched StandinGoodHealth Manufacturing to produce his innovative design.
Pat thrived as a freelance artist. One of his pursuits extended into custom car culture and the art of Pinstriping. It was here that he became friends with Alan Johnson, a pin striping legend. It was Alan who encouraged Pat to travel to the UK and explore turn of the 19th century techniques in glass embossing and gold gilding. This proved to be the focal point for the integration of his wide range of artistic and engineering skills. In 2019 he went to the U.K. and spent time learning glass gilding techniques from world renowned artist, David Smith.
Naturally, Pat quickly began to design a suitable space for the creation of glass-work. This process led to the production of beautiful examples of traditional glass-work and the development of sophisticated machines whose designs have been adopted by several artists, including David Smith.
Glass-work has provided the perfect medium to integrate Pat’s extensive array of skills enabling him to imagine, design, and build simultaneously. This includes both the artistic concepts and the equipment required to achieve them. In the tradition of the Italian renaissance he uses modern technical capabilities to produce historic art forms.
