Breathing New Life into East Tennessee’s Walls
With international training and a love for all things plaster, Eugenia Almeida’s technique and creativity bring client dreams to fruition inside their homes and businesses.
When Eugenia Almeida came into the art of plaster and design in 2009, her business A New Hue didn’t even have a building to house it – all she had was a vision. But that, she says, was enough. “In this industry, you need to become what you want to be,” says Almeida. “I was Eugenia Almeida from Argentina, and I said, ‘I can do this.’”
Almeida grew up in the footsteps of an artist, her father. “I was sure that I wanted to do something with colors and textures,” she says. And when her husband began traveling for work in Europe, it gave her the opportunity to start getting training from artisans across the world. “I was lucky enough that they accepted me learning from them.” When they settled down in Knoxville, Almeida knew what her next steps would be.
In those early days without a studio, Almeida crafted samples of her work in her basement, showing them to businesses and friends to advertise her nascent plaster business. And it eventually paid off. “In this country, if you put in the work, you’re honest, and you go the extra mile, you will succeed,” she says.
A decade and a half later, Almeida has seen the results of her determination. A New Hue has a diverse portfolio of work, emblazoned on walls across East Tennessee, from homes to businesses like Altar’d State and The Tennessean Hotel. “The love in my life is carved in plaster,” Almeida says. “Our work speaks for herself.” Today, A New Hue operates with two of Almeida’s sons and her daughter-in-law working alongside her.
What sets her business apart, Almeida says, isn’t just her work ethic, it’s her commitment to not sitting comfortably in what she already knows, and instead taking every opportunity to expand her repertoire. “I am a firm believer that you need to learn the technique,” she says, adding that this education expands the possibilities. “You can add more, create more, add another texture. I see my work in a three-dimensional way. I never see it flat.” She regularly brings masters of a variety of techniques from across the United States and even across the world to her studio to teach her and her crew new techniques.
Each A New Hue project draws from the years of experience and plethora of techniques mastered by Almeida and her crew, and each design is hand-crafted to fit the client’s unique needs. “We have people who know exactly what they want to have in their home,” Almeida explains, but other clients defer to her artisan’s eye to decide what would look best. Either way, it is a collaborative effort to bring client projects to life.
Almeida is also working hard to give back to the community that welcomed her in when she first came to the United States. Today she’s working on projects for organizations, like Restoration House and Thrive Lonsdale, to bring beautiful designs to life for the people they serve.
Bottom line is that when it comes to breathing new life into homes and businesses, Almeida knows just what to do. “You can give so much life to a regular wall,” she says. “Whatever you’re thinking, whatever you would like to see, is possible.”
1009 Tennessee Avenue, Knoxville, TN 37921 | (865) 936-3995