About CLEMENTINA DI MONTE RUBELLO
The Artist
The life of Clementina di Monte Rubello, our founder and in-house artist, has been defined by her two great passions – exploring the world and painting. Happiest when combining the two, she spent years travelling with her watercolour palette in her suitcase – now, to her great joy, her much-loved hobby has become her full-time profession.
Her Life
Growing up surrounded by art lovers in the centre of Milan, Clementina understood visual beauty from a young age and started taking watercolour classes while still at school. After her business degree at Georgetown University in DC, she fell in love with the culture and landscapes of Argentina and moved to Buenos Aires. From there she hopped east to an equally beautiful southern hemisphere city, Cape Town. While living there, she explored southern Africa’s incomparable landscapes and started a clothing line for polo players.
When the Brand Started
The seed for all this was planted when Clementina was at Parsons in New York City. Thanks to a serendipitous assignment in 2017 (the task was to tell the story of her life visually), she launched an Instagram page filled with watercolours and called it Clementina Sketchbook. On it, she posted her fashion sketches, and the drawings and paintings she gave to friends as presents. She quickly gathered followers and before long, paid requests started pouring in. Realising that this project had real potential, she founded Clementina Sketchbook the following year.
Where She Is Now
Clementina now lives with her husband in London – a city that allows her to indulge some of her appetite for adventure while still exploring the world through her paintbrush. She is simultaneously running the Clementina Sketchbook brand while accepting special commissions for high-end collaborations and projects.
