Ven Paldano (they / them) is a non-binary trans-masculine identified QPoC entrepreneur, architectural assistant and community organiser, who co-founded Brighton QTIPoC Narratives Collective to make ‘safer space’ for QTIPoC. Ven is the recipient of the 2023/24 CACT Charles Knevitt Architecture Award.
Ven works in property renovations and until recently a restaurateur, they are particularly focused on the power and application of craft, skill sharing, community mental health and wellbeing. Through pragmatism and a do-it-yourself attitude, they have immersed them-self in learning the skills of site carpentry, plastering, BBQ from Southern American Pitmasters and French cooking for the last fifteen years.
These disciplines have led them to question the effects of colonialism within their own gender identity, the built environment, how property laws have driven us to today’s oppressive border control systems, the roots that drive neoliberal property development schemes and the definition of ‘safe space’. They are currently studying an MA in Architecture (RIBA Part 2) at the RCA with an aim to focus on policies that isolate the marginalised in urban space.
