Sophie Simone Designs: An expression of Mexican nature
180º: How did the brand start?
Sophie: The brand started many years ago, when my grandmother gave me old brooches that were hers and I took them apart to make necklaces. I started making unique pieces with objects I found on trips and later I started designing. This is how Sophie Simone Designs came about , officially four years ago.
180º: What are you looking to express with the brand?
S: A lot of it is Mexican nature, I get a lot of inspiration from Mexico. I love cacti, they are a plant that surprises me a lot, that has many qualities and attributes and I find it very beautiful. I make a lot of cacti. And also what I seek to express is evolving, I don't know what it will be next, we'll see.
180º: Do you work by collection or rather by piece?
S: By collection. I pick a theme and do a whole line of it, the last one was magic mushrooms, it's called Psychedelic . I take the subject, or a plant that I really like, and I draw a line.
180º: Where do you make your jewelry?
S: I design it in my studio and make it in my workshop downtown.
180º: do you have any favorite materials to work with?
S: I work a lot with silver, with gold, with gold plate and with stones a little. I want to work more with stones. Before I also worked with resin, I had a whole era of resin, where I made all the pieces myself. I don't do it anymore because it's a lot of work and also the resin is quite toxic. Now what I want to do is sculpture, I want to make my pieces a little bigger and continue making the lines perhaps from the sculptures. The idea is still in process.
180º: What is your creative process like, from the moment the idea begins?
S: It starts with a walk in nature and seeing something that catches my attention. From that first idea, which in general I don't look for but rather find, I started drawing and making rings, necklaces, I also started making bags. It comes very naturally, I don't force it, fortunately in jewelry we don't have the pressure of the seasons. I don't work like that, I work a lot as it comes to me.
180º: What has been the brand's biggest challenge?
S: It has been such a natural process that I have grown as the brand has been received, so I have not had enormous challenges. Right now I think the biggest challenge is coming, I am going to do a fair in Paris in October and for me it means a challenge because it is a large and very prestigious show, so I feel that the brand is already rising to a greater international level.
180º: What do you enjoy most about what you do?
S: What I like most is being able to convey what touches me and catches my attention, being able to translate it into an object that some woman really likes and can have for a lifetime. Being able to be part of the lives of certain women, because an object that you wear is very personal. So for me it is an honor every time they buy it. I like creativity, that I can make a living from this is a privilege, and that it continues to grow. I am very grateful to all the people who like the brand and I want to continue doing better and continue making original things. I'm not at all involved in the world of fashion, I don't really know what the trends are, so everything I do is a very personal expression. I think that has allowed me to be a little different.
180º: How did you get to 180º?
S: Bernardo saw me in a market about six years ago, when I was still making resin things. And I started selling my resin things in the store. This is how we have forged a friendship and work relationship that has grown very beautiful. 180º has supported me a lot, so we continue there.
180º: What are you working on now?
S: I am working on sculpture and on a new line.
