Meet Victoria Tonelli, a Design Expert and the Senior Art Director on 'Celebrity IOU'
Published July 5 2021, 5:31 p.m. ET
Kim Kardashian, Rainn Wilson, and Justin Hartley are just some of the A-listers appearing on Season 2 of Celebrity IOU, the HGTV show allowing entertainment industry mainstays to honor their beloved ones. So, what's there to know about the senior art director of the show, Victoria Tonelli?
Victoria Tonelli helps celebs like Kris Jenner surprise their friends on 'Celebrity IOU.'
As a senior art director on Celebrity IOU, Victoria Tonelli has worked in close collaboration with celebs like William Shatner, Brad Pitt, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Bublé, and Kris Jenner.
For each episode of the show, she sets out to create a modern, luxurious interior that perfectly matches the style of the people closest to the stars. Take, for instance, Season 2 Episode 5, in which Victoria helped Kim, Kris, and Kendall Jenner surprise a close family friend, Lisa.
It's understood that Victoria splits her time between working on television shows (like Celebrity IOU) and other projects, such as residential remodels, luxury home staging, or e-design consultations. Over the course of the past few years, Victoria cemented herself as a leading art director and design consultant in the entertainment industry.
According to her LinkedIn, she earned her stripes as a design intern at the Toronto-based Kimberley Seldon Design Group before joining Buying and Selling in January 2014 as a design assistant. She quickly worked her way to the top. In August 2014, she was promoted to the role of design coordinator. By March 2015, she was working as a design and construction producer.
Victoria frequently collaborates with Drew and Jonathan Scott, but they are far from her only clients. According to her LinkedIn, she also worked as an associate producer on CBC's The Goods. As her Instagram profile reveals, she also serves as a design expert on the popular chat show, CityLine.
Victoria elaborated on her work achievements and design philosophy during a previous appearance on CityLine.
"I've been creatively involved in some of the most popular design shows on television right now. Where I started is Property Brothers. I'm at almost 60 episodes now with working with those guys," Victoria said on CityLine. "My production designs have now aired on television screens all across the world."
"Design for TV is really designer boot camp. We really are pulling off the unthinkable. Finding ways to get these renovations done in record time has really made me push myself as a designer and show my versatility," she added. "Lots of people say don't sweat the small stuff. I could not agree less with that. I think we should really sweat the details."
On Instagram, Victoria tends to share updates about her latest projects and proudest achievements. Some of her posts show the most astonishing home transformations she orchestrated as part of her work on Celebrity IOU. Others document her commercial projects for clients based in Toronto and far beyond.
Catch new episodes of Celebrity IOU every Monday at 9 p.m. EST on HGTV.