Recyclable Redefining

Words Arielle Chambers

Designer Sophie Rowley is based in London.  With a textile and fashion design background, Rowley has an experience with conceptual thinking.  She has worked internationally with clients including Phillippa Wagner/Future Filter and Stylesight, where she did trend forecasting, and Alexander McQueen and Diane Von Fürstenberg, in the design and textile department.  She has also paired with NISSANS car interiors, Roche Bobois Furniture Company and has had a collaborative project with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  

 Rowley’s wide background has allowed her to venture into several aspects of design.  The London Design Festival 2014 showcased her interior objects at the Mint Gallery.  These objects include the Bahia stool made of denim offcuts, the silverwood door weight made of compressed old layers of newspaper, the Perito Moreno table made of a steel frame and a glass top (the glass top is made of re-used broken glass), the Heliopora Bluefoam table made of remnants of blue modeling foam, and Kaibab bowls made of offcuts of sheet foam combined with paint.  Because of the reusable materials utilized in making these pieces, Rowley’s creations contain visible texture. The Bahia stool is exceptional in detail and is a must have for the daring customer; it exudes a psychedelic movement while remaining completely natural. “Material Illusions,” the theme of these works of art, bring a nature-like aesthetic.  Her main goal “aims to question our current perception of materiality in times of increasingly man-made realities.”  She achieves this and more.  Rowley’s use of these materials and they way she sculpted them to create a cohesive unit ironically makes her work modern with a vintage twist.