Sophie
James
I’m Sophie, a designer and craftsman based in Portland, Oregon. Creativity is an intrinsic part of who I am. My design approach is craft-driven and deeply influenced by design principles, where simplicity, functionality, and a connection to nature are paramount. My projects often embody warm, familiar qualities, grounded in modern, minimalist use of natural materials, soft lines, and a playful use of color. I aim to create designs that blend seamlessly into both natural and urban environments, offering a sense of calm and understated elegance. My unfussy approach leads to products that reflect an elevated simplicity, balanced with a human touch. I’m passionate about furniture, textiles, and ceramics, finding true fulfillment in learning, experimenting, and problem-solving to create pieces that marry beauty with practicality.
EDUCATION
University of Oregon
Product Design School
2022 BFA Product Design
I studied industrial design with an emphasis on furniture, textiles and housewares. While learning to work across many technical design categories my personal design process always led to craft driven products produced with more hands-on processes.
DIS Copenhagen
Furniture Design Studio
2021
For my third year of study I was accepted into a furniture design studio intensive at the DIS Copenhagen School of Design. Working alongside some of Europe’s top industrial designers and master furniture craftsmen. I studied the design process end-to-end working through strategy, concepting, detailed prototyping and hands-on production. During this time I traveled across Denmark, Sweden, and Finland visiting some of the world’s top furniture design studios, high end production facilities and woodshops, iconic architect’s homes, showrooms and museums.
Art Center Extension
Design Drawing Intensive
2023
Art Center Extension is the renowned design school’s selection of courses offered to non full time students.
I took a design drawing intensive to hone my sketching skills. The studio was taught by a transportation designer at Honda and tenured Art Center professor. In this class I dialed skills in quick iterative sketching, shading for lighting and a variety of materials, perspective, and form development.
EXPERIENCE
Primecut Bags
Custom Accessories
2023 - Current
A deep dive into a world of leather, textile, and all things color. With my degree in design, experience with professional production work and an obvious passion for sewing, Primecut was the perfect fit. Here I ’ve had the unique opportunity to work with leather, cowhide, shearling and textiles in a high end production environment. Primecut has a house line of quality handbags with a playful, colorful, and modern aesthetic. We work with pattern and patchwork extensively which is a core part of the Primecut brand and high craft production experience. Outside of the house line we sew commission projects from custom jackets to commercial upholstery for brands like Nike, Fila, and Magnolia Home. This job is all about efficiency, attention to detail, and precision.
In Real Life - IRL
Vintage Apparel
2022 - 2023A retail experience that went so much deeper. In Real Life is a vintage apparel retailer offering a select curation of high end vintage apparel. Created by a graphic designer and wardrobe stylist IRL upheld a thoughtful design oriented aesthetic.
The team prioritized sourcing high quality garments, natural materials and sophisticated designs to create a considered collection of ingredients to recombine into fresh new looks with a modern style. My role was retail and styling which entailed manning the shop and communicating with customers as well as designing the “looks” styled in our store and utilized for socials to showcase the collection.
Peaches the Studio
Ceramics Design
2020 - 2022What started out as an internship, soon became a full-time staff position working across every dimension of design, material and production of custom ceramics and housewares. During this time I dove deeply into the end-to-end process for small-scale manufacturing of ceramics including color, materials and finishing to deliver on our signature aesthetic.
With my experience in design, furniture and textiles, I helped Peaches expand into new categories by partnering on the development of a series of custom-designed furniture, fabrics and upholsteries - complete with a line of natural dye colors developed independently.
Oak St. Vintage
Furniture & Art
2018 - 2020An irreplaceable experience, Oak St. Vintage is where I fell in love with furniture. Oak St. is an immaculately curated collection of vintage designer furniture, lighting, art and textiles. Here my role was furniture and lighting restoration. I got to revive wood pieces with sanding, oils, and stains, reupholster textile and leather cushions as well as rewire and enliven vintage lighting. I learned so much about the construction and design subtleties of these objects through such close work with them. It was an experience of inspiration and mentorship.