ambrella design portfolio

Welcome

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ambrella design is a multi dimensional company that has been the driving force behind over 20 theatrical designs for shows in the San Francsico Bay Area, Commercial Window Design, Arts Promotion and Event Planning. Click the column to the right to get a taste of past projects, which have taken me from California to France, Italy, and back.

Events

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Whether it's just showing up as a vendor or it's organizing, art events have brought me a sense of community and purpose.

I have put together trunk shows and fashion shows in public and private locales, in California and Paris. I am particularly proud of an arts space that I helped found and get sponsorship for in Paris, called Space Marmalade. And more recently, teaching a t-shirt upcycling workshop in Italian, at an eco fair in Italy. How cool is that?

Painting and Such

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From small to large, altered art to murals, I love to get messy with color!

Gertrude Stein Dress/Statement

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In my couture work, one obsession I regularly nurture is the use of reclaimed materials. In salvaging and reinstating beauty and purpose into old and rejected textiles. I am particularly interested in how craftsmanship changes under these circumstances. I am also drawn to decadence; exploring waste and waste product alike.

In the process of creating the "Dress Inspired by Gertrude Stein," I referred directly to her “continuous present” and practice of “stringing together individual somethings to create a one thing”.

Trading words for scraps of fabric, each pulled from an unrecognizable source and strung one to the other in an eventual “crazy quilt”, lacking concern for narrative or function. There is no secret to the components of this dress, and yet it is purely conceived of the mystery that lay beyond the many pieces of which it was born.

Millinery and Fashion

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I became enamored with hat making when I worked in the millinery department at the SF Opera. At the time I also became involved with some fashionista friends with whom I showed my work. See here a feature in the SF Examiner of one of my hats at a club show I did with the Cloud Factory Design Collective (model on the left.)

A few other designs...

And a bit more fashion fun...

Window Dressing

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Each of these photos represents a thematic juvenile window for a children's clothing shop in San Francisco called Honeys and Heroes.

I have also done windows for the Paper Source in SF. In either case, the focus was on using simple materials such as felt and paper. So far I have specialized in whimsical dioramas, though it is true that I'd love to create edgier installations with Simon Doonan at Barneys!

Teaching

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Any eager student is a source of inspiration. I have been lucky enough to teach the following workshops to either individuals or groups:

-T-Shirt Recycling
-Beginning Bookbinding
-Rubber Stamping Technique
-Creativity with Cards
-Sewing for Beginners
-Mixed Media Collage Painting
-Fun With Felt

If you are interested in hosting an arts workshop I am available to do so in English (native), French, and Italian.

Reviews

2009-09-16T14:42:00.004+02:00

"Scenic design by Sean Riley goes for (and achieves) a surreal abstraction where the white walls are adorned with a flurry of blue suitcases (actually, suitcases pop up constantly). And David Szlasa’s lighting and Ambra Sultzbaugh’s costume designs complete the vivid visuals of the play’s topsy-turvy world."

Big Love, foolsFURY, Reviewed by Tom W. Kelly

"Ben Sherris' set is minimal: a bare floor with a ladder on one side and an arch with a plastic tarp hanging down on the other. A black platform is added in the second half. And Kaibrina Sky Buck and Ambra Sultzbaugh's costumes are a striking mix of brightly-colored gloves, scarves, or shirts over oppressive grays. An unnerving white noise underlies most scenes, broken jarringly by cheerful warnings to behave broadcast over the radio and school PA systems."

Monster in the Dark, foolsFURY, Reviewed by Sam Hurwitt

"Crimy gives the audience, seated only several feet away from the actors, the atmosphere of a prison. Bruce Walters has designed a realistic Latin American prison cell and Ambra Sultzbaugh's costumes add authentic style to the scenes."

Kiss of the Spiderwoman, New Conservatory Theatre, Reviewed by Richard Connema

Stage Crew

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Properties/Stage Design

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Costume Design

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