I use three ‘anchors’ when designing each collection:

1.) A travel destination

2.) A trend

3.) An ideal customer

Picking a destination helps guide and drive my design process. I use it as a loose framework from which to draw inspiration for the colors, shapes and textures in my designs. How can I reference unique architectural, landscape or cultural details? How can I convey the overall feel or mood of this location? Participating in the Textile Design Lab at the Pattern Observer, I learned the importance of the other two anchors, researching upcoming trends and defining an ideal customer. Researching and incorporating trends is essential, a dash of deconstructed geometry or a pinch of primitive motif keeps the designs fresh and relevant. Finally, I always create an ideal customer for my collection. This customer even gets a name, I know her personal style, what her house looks like and even where she shops. Definitely bordering on creepy stalker- if she were real! When designing a collection, I constantly ask myself WWSB. What would Sophie (or Sadie or Suki) buy?