Sophie Collé

By: Sophia Newman | Illustrations: Yael Berezdivin

Sophie Collé is a young designer originally from Rockville, Maryland who is currently working out of her studio in Brooklyn, New York. Collé originally studied industrial design at Virginia Tech. At first, her original designs were nothing like they were today. They featured a lot of untreated stainless steel and birchwood. However this all changed when she was introduced to postmodernism in school, a broad movement started in the mid 20th.

She realized that she had “forgotten how to play – as many adults do” and her old designs reflected that. Current day Collé designs feature lots of color, geometry, and humor. Her goal is to make furniture that makes people smile while also making a change towards the systemic issues within the art and design world. In an interview with Surface magazine, she talks about her experience as a woman in the design industry and how her various experiences have opened her eyes to the lack of diversity within the community.

This summer at the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement Collé took to Instagram to post various furniture designs and offered them in custom colorways to clients with the proceeds going to either the BLM organization or any organization of the customer’s choice. Collé urges other designers to also use their craft for the greater good of the world and communities in need.

IG: www.instagram.com/sophiecolledesign