Oliver Vranesh

Although Oliver Vranesh has lived in the United States his entire life, his background comes from all over the world. The combination of his grandparents coming from Spain, France, Italy, Ireland and Serbia and his mother growing up in Venezuela provided him with many different cultural influences. Oliver was fortunate enough to never experience challenges due to his background, but it is easy to see that he has a strong appreciation for all cultures instilled in him.

While growing up in Falls Church, Virginia, Oliver has always had a love of two things: sports and art. From the 7th grade on, Oliver could be found playing baseball, track, basketball, soccer and golf. During his time at O’Connell High School, Oliver was a member of the golf club and realized that golf is a “game of finesse” and developed a respect for the game. Oliver’s interest in art was apparent at an early age. When he was in elementary school he would make claymation and 2-d animation films. As Oliver moved through school his love for art continued to grow and he became interested in illustration, graphic design, and architecture.

It was this love of art and design that lead him to study Industrial Design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Oliver quickly realized that Industrial Design was a mixture of all the different kinds of art that he enjoyed and liked the idea of being able to help people by designing products that would benefit society. In addition to his classes, his love for sports continues at school as a member of the Division 3 college basketball team.

It’s obvious that Oliver has a deep devotion to art, but his true passion is having the opportunity to combine his love of art with his love of sports. His first opportunity to do this was working at Camp Shriver, where he was able to work with children with special needs through both art and sports. It was the possibility of a second chance to “incorporate both talents – sport and design” that led him to apply for a Footwear Development internship offered in our Brockton location. Oliver stated that his internship has been a “cool opportunity to do two things I enjoy at once.”