MEET DSGNRS: Women's History Month
Today closes out Women’s History Month! Did you know, women make up approximately 61% of the design population yet less than 30% work in leadership roles? How often are we reminded that we are seen? As a women run collective, we took the month to simply rest & recalibrate (highly recommend), we could not let the month go by without celebrating fellow dsgnrs we’re inspired by. Get to know a little more about these incredible makers in today’s issue of Meet DSGNRS.
ACCESSORY
SAPHYRA SAINT FORT OF SAINT-FORT
Miami based Saphyra Saint Fort got her start in fashion at an early age learning about her mother and grandmother bonding through playing dress up. Beginning her career in fashion with a styling in 2012, she set her eyes on Parsons School of Design in New York City. She launched Saint-Fort in 2014 as a means to create signature pieces as well as assist with paying tuition.
Saint Fort was created to represent the “will minded” woman, the brand specializes in signature jaw dropping pieces made to a limited order. The brand’s aim is to set trends and create demand with every creative release they make. Check out her beautiful pieces below!
APPAREL
ERICA APPLEBY OF ETA LUXE & LUXE ART TECH
Erica Appleby is a Miami based multidisciplinary dsgnr often inspired by women, nature and art. Her career started with painting and drawing, which helped her to develop a love for the unseen beauty in skin, texture and people. Using her unique eye to design, she honed her skills at fashion houses like Cynthia Rowley before launching "ETA Luxe by Erica Appleby" in 2012. Using innovation, texture and functionality to create timeless pieces, ETA Luxe has been deemed Fashion Artistry and Affordable luxury that inspires women to walk, create and live in their true power. Last month, ETA Luxe collaborated with Chinese based fashion brand, SHEIN and the pieces are so fun! Check out some of the line here
Erica is also the founder of Luxe Art Tech, a Creative Agency & Online Arts Platform that aids current creatives in elevating their skills and brands in fashion, art business and content creation.
SIMONE JAMES OF SSAMES
Simone James is an artist and designer born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She attended the School of the Art Institute in 2010 for Fashion Design. After graduating, she settled in New York city in 2016 to explore better opportunities and to connect with individuals in the fashion industry. Throughout her time in New York City, she has landed footwear design jobs with major fashion houses and has most recently expanded her career by launching her own brand, ssames. Ssames is a surreal fashion brand exploring the bounds of form and function through materiality. Get inspired by Simone’s imagination!
ARCHITECTURE
LATOYA NELSON KAMDANG OF MOODY NOLAN
Latoya Nelson Kamdang is the Director of Operations of the NY Studio of Moody Nolan and a U.S. Fulbright Senior Scholar. As a Registered Architect and Certified Interior Designer; her experience spans architecture, planning, exhibit design, industrial design, and interior design. She has worked on project typologies which include hospitality, retail, museum, workplace, education, and government. Her proudest project to date? The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture where she focused on developing the Slave & Freedom Gallery.
Latoya also works simultaneously as a Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt Institute for ten years. She educates students on interdisciplinary design approaches and color and material theory. She has a research focus on rapidly expanding urban areas, neighborhood gentrification, passive sustainable technologies, and indigenous architecture. Latoya earned a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design as well as a Certificate in Real Estate Design & Development from the Wharton School of Business. She also has a Master of Fine Arts degree from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Marketing from Georgetown University.
FOOTWEAR
TOVAH ROBINSON
Tovah Robinson is a footwear designer based in Brooklyn, New York. After some time of trial and error, Tovah found a passion through working around accessory designers in handbag production. Following her passion, she took on a double life taking accessories classes at FIT after work. Shortly after, Tovah got her first break in footwear design, working as a footwear assistant at Dolce Vita designing for clients such as Urban Outfitters and Halston. Today, she works as a multidisciplinary consultant and designer within footwear.
Tovah prides her success on her raw talent, persistence, and eclectic style. In her designs, Tovah enjoys working with the combination of natural elements and industrial finishes. She creates pieces that have an interrelationship between shapes and space, making her work dynamic. Her designs are architectural and sculptural with cultural influences, check out some of her work below!
BRITTNEY PERRY OF PerryCo SHOES
Lifelong sneakerhead Brittney Perry grew up facing a market saturated by sneakers made for and by men. With few options marketed to women at the time, Brittney resorted to buying men’s sneakers, but felt the need for something more inclusive. In 2018, Brittney launched PerryCo Shoes with the mission of creating a genderless sneaker that can appeal to all styles and identities. She shares, “I believe this company is important not only because it’s unisex, but because in an industry that is mostly male dominated, I’m paving a way for women, especially women of color. I think it’s important that the company is seen, to motivate and inspire others that you do not have to work for a large company, you can create your own.”
Congratulations are in order for Brittney! Last month, Perry won the Global Footwear Award for GFA x SBW UP-AND-COMING FEMALE SNEAKER DESIGNER!
FURNITURE, FOOTWEAR & ACCESSORIES
MIA WRIGHT-ROSS OF MWR COLLECTION & STUDIO
Mia Wright-Ross is a leather craft’s artist who focuses her works in footwear & accessory design, sculpture, and lifestyle tools. Wright-Ross created MWR Collection, LLC a full-service luxury crafting atelier that shows that the human touch is still valuable in design. In tandem, she also runs MWR Studio, an artisan educational atelier and product development agency offering services to improve education concept and product development practices within footwear and accessories global marketplace.
All MWR Collection works are bespoke and made-to-order, making each detail unique to the buyer’s specifications. Their philosophy is grounded in the commitment to the practice of artisanal skills with the truth of the natural human hand. From the hand woven leather cable detailing to the modern purposeful product engineering, MWR Collection reconnects its patrons to the humanity of the creative design process.
INTERIOR
courtney robinson of materials + methods design
A product of Howard university’s division of fine arts , Courtney Robinson began her career in Interior Design at Knoll DC. Post degree, she relocated to New York city where her journey in the world of art, design, and fashion began to take shape. Robinson worked under renowned interior designer Thom Filicia in her junior years. learning the fundamentals of design and build, honing her taste for luxury, and exposing her to multi-million dollar residential projects. Courtney went on to practice as a Senior Designer, at nyc based firms for a few years before transitioning into the world of textile and furniture design as a Director of Visual Merchandising (Showrooms) for Beacon Hill.
In 2016, she founded Materials + Methods Design in 2016. Courtney’s career since then has expanded beyond interior design and NYC, now residing in her hometown of Los Angeles, Courtney practices both residential and commercial work. As an avid member of the dsgnrswrkshp community among other design collectives, Courtney prides herself in being a part of the renaissance of Black creatives who are breaking barriers in the fields of design.
Jessica Aggrey of aggrey jewellery
Jessica Aggrey’s passion for jewels and gems is informed by her love of fashion, art, antiquity and nature. “Growing up in Ghana, West Africa was the start of my lifelong obsession in the way people adorn themselves,” she says, “My paternal grandmother was a gold trader on the coast, its in my blood, I was surrounded by women with great style and an appreciation of jewellery” "I find my muse in the women I call friends and family and client's".
Starting out her career in jewelry in New Zealand in the early 1990’s, Jessica has had the opportunity to design Bali, Indonesia. After a Diploma at Auckland’s MIT, she set up her first jewellery studio, Tempietto in her early twenties and stocked her wares at the likes of Zambesi, Karen Walker and World to name a few. She later opened her well-loved store Mettle 22 in Ponsonby Auckland, where she traded for several years. Her love for styling and costuming led to a one year pop-up store named OBISPO. A collaborative curation with fellow stylist's. To mark 27 years as a maker Jessica has decided to rebrand as AGGREY JEWELLERY - A celebration of her family name and connection to her ancestors.
SURFACE & TEXTILE
stephanie singh of stephanie angela
Stephanie Singh is a Toronto-based interdisciplinary textile designer who focuses on sustainable practices of natural dyes and plant matter to curate surface designs. Currently, a candidate of OCADU Master’s of Interdisciplinary Art, Media and, Design Stephanie’s love of sustainable craft enables a profound appreciation for mother earth as the original artist and designer.
Stephanie explores sustainable practices, alternatives through the human-nature experience connecting materials, pattern, color, texture in a design while maintaining a conscious design aesthetic. With expertise in surface design, natural dyes, and paper-making; a venture of interdisciplinary in further materials will be the new practice of emerging contemporary forms. Stephanie enjoys traveling around the city drawing from details of our lives, creating visual elements that are often overlooked from details of our lives that are recreated and reimagined in different ways.
Congratulations are in order as Stephanie has completed her MFA Program, her final exhibition BLACK FOLIAGE is now on display at OCADU, we stan!
