Robert Sands is better known outside Pittsburgh than in his hometown. An acclaimed commercial artist, creative director and production designer, Sands has proven his talents as a marketing guru for companies like Ford, GE Capital and Alcoa. He even met Andy Warhol. “I just met a wonderful series of people that thought my design work was good enough to take me lots of places,” he said. “A series of happy accidents.”

Can you explain what it is that a commercial artist or creative director does? Pretty much anything that people will look at, from the print aspects to invitations for special events, to stage coordination and marketing.

Are you still an international man of marketing? I’m doing a lot more local things now (after doing the majority of work outside the Pittsburgh market). I took on a couple different jobs, such as the winter wedding promotion at The Priory Hotel, and it’s slowly coming back. The more you do, the more you get.

When did you move back to Pittsburgh? We moved here four years ago from the Fox Chapel area. As soon as the kids were late into college, we moved back into the city. The house we bought had no utilities, doors or windows. It was a wreck.

Of all the neighborhoods in the city, why Deutschtown? I had no idea about Deutschtown or East Allegheny or anything. We moved in, and that was it. Now I can walk to Penguins games, and we’re within walking distance to everything.

Do you see the build-up of Deutschtown as gentrification? No, it’s not gentrification. I don’t see myself as a person of wealth. I see it as restoring the neighborhood back to what it used to be. Before, people moved to the suburbs and left the city to erode.

Why do people in the neighborhood seem to know who you are? I was one of a few people who helped design the Deutschtown logo (an example of which is located on the side of a building near the corner of Cedar Avenue and East Ohio Street). Slowly, but surely, the Deutschtown thing has caught on.

The walls of your home are covered in art. Are they your pieces? I’ve always had a hand in fine art. The wheels are always turning. The crossover from commercial to fine art is difficult, but being a Fe gallery artist for Pittsburgh 250 was a nice distinction. It was nice being able to show my work.

You met Andy Warhol? I’m probably one of the few people in Pittsburgh to have met him. I was living in New York at the time.

Additional Information:

Age: 65

Residence: Deutschtown

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