Collab Sophie Dries X D'ORSAY News
Architect and designer HMNOP, Sophie Dries is a graduate of ENSA Paris-Malaquais and Aalto University in Helsinki. She was also trained in Contemporary Art at L’École du Louvre.
After working with prestigious architecture and design offices such as Jean Nouvel, Pierre Yovanovitch and Christian Liaigre workshops, Sophie Dries created her studio in Paris in 2014 and then opened a second address in Milan in 2017.
In 2015, she participated in the architecture residency of the «Jorn Utzon Foundation» in the Villa Can Lis in Mallorca where she created “TR », her first collection of rugs. Subsequently, her ceramic collections were presented at Salone Del Mobile in Milan, PAD London, Collectible in Brussels, The Salon Art + Design in New York, and are sold in the L’Eclaireur galleries in Paris and Los Angeles. They can also be found in the Wallpaper Store.
Alongside her ceramic work, she also creates exceptional numbered edition pieces for Nilufar galleries in Milan and Giustini / Stagetti in Rome. Her various creations were also exhibited in private foundations and at the Cité de l’Architecture in 2019 for the retrospective on furniture by architects. Furniture publishing houses such as KAIA and TRAME also have called on her talent to create serial pieces reflecting her respect for craftsmanship.
The starting point for her architectural projects, the Genius Loci (the spirit of the place) is essential for Sophie Dries: she immerses herself in the place in order to understand it fundamentally ; in order to shape it, while respecting its history and context.
Far from being locked into a style, Dries draws inspiration both the Age of Enlightenment and contemporary art.
Arte Povera, and its use of noble and natural materials (wood, stone, marble, metal), and part of a search for sustainability, is also a source of inspiration in her work. Dries’ aesthetic universe is characterized by a mixture of luxury and authenticity where modernity, elegance and comfort are balanced in a coherent and daring way.
The quintessence of material and craftsmanship, are at the heart of her work: combining traditional artisanal techniques with new contemporary know-how, whether it be in her interior architecture projects or for her furniture creations.
Surrounded by exceptional craftsmen, she uses her knowledge of materials and constant experiments with them, practicing new ideas and methods in order to achieve «the cosmic essence of matter”, a concept that was held dear by Brancusi. Free from any preconceived idea, she creates spaces in the image of its occupants, guided by the singularity of each encounter.
Today, Dries is present in Paris, Milan, and is specialized in creating private residences, hotels, luxury boutiques, and exhibition scenogra- paphies.
Sophie Dries have been selected of the 100 AD designers selected of 2022 and one of the 100 Phaidon’s World Best Interior designer. She also won the Paris Shop & Design Award for the Michel Vivien boutique in 2021 and the AD Land Rover Awards of the Year 2022.
Discover the olfactory object she created in collaboration with D'ORSAY