Andrea Vargas Dieppa, Sea Shell. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
STREET SMART
Jim C. Nedd Photographs Work by Andrea Vargas Dieppa in Bogotá
by Felix Burrichter 
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, Chrome Aluminium Lamp. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, Meditation Lamp. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Latin American capitals carry their histories in plain sight. In cities like Mexico City and Bogotá, colonial architecture sits alongside modern(ist) infrastructure and informal construction. The result is a dense layering of eras and intentions, a landscape where past and present coexist without ever fully blending. It’s this textured context that Mexico City-based UNNO Gallery tapped into when they invited photographer Jim C. Nedd to capture the work of Colombian designer Andrea Vargas Dieppa across Bogotá.
Dieppa’s work is typically presented in galleries or well-appointed interiors. Her pieces — from the handmade silver of her Arete Dinnerware Collection to her totemic Circus Vessels — use wood, shell, and metal in precise ways that place them between decorative objects and functional pieces. Photographed directly in the streets of Bogotá — in a café, a public square, a parking garage roof deck, and even on a llama — these works appear less controlled than when inside gallery walls, more responsive to the city pressing in around them.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, Yellow Horn. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, Erect Structure Lamp. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, Yellow Horn. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, Black Horn. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, The Astro Bowl. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Design by Andrea Vargas Dieppa. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
For Nedd, whose family is Colombian but who grew up mostly in northern Italy, this street-level informality is instinctive. Though he’s trained as a technician, his way of working is rooted in narrative rather than rigidity — a sensibility visible in both his personal work and his editorial and commercial projects for Vogue Italia, Kaleidoscope, Aperture, and brands like Prada and Gucci. He doesn’t chase perfect conditions or sanitize what’s happening around him. “What truly interests me is that tension between reality and fiction,” he says. “My photographs are marked by pleasure, not duty.”
UNNO founder Maria Dolores Uribe observes that Nedd’s images “don’t simply illustrate; they let Andrea’s pieces act,” preserving the ambiguity central to Dieppa’s practice while grounding it in Bogotá’s everyday textures. Rather than staging Latin American design for an outside gaze, Dieppa’s objects meet Nedd’s lens on familiar ground, shaped by shared references and a culture that formed them both.
Design by Andrea Vargas Dieppa. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Design by Andrea Vargas Dieppa. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, Chrome Aluminium Lamp. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, The Astro Bowl. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, The Astro Bowl. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, Triangulum. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, Triangulum. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, Arlete Cup. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Andrea Vargas Dieppa, Arete Dinner wear collection. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.
Design by Andrea Vargas Dieppa. Photography by Jim C. Nedd. Courtesy of UNNO Gallery.