Interview with Sofie Di Bartolomeo

Design for me is the relationship between aesthetic and functionality.

I really like designing wearables, projects related to material manipulations, textures, and surfaces.

I feel most creative when I'm working on something that I'm passionate about or when I woke up in a great mood and the sun is shining outside.

I focus a lot on the small details that in my opinion makes the difference and that gives a sort of a soul to the project.

I need to admit that I feel a bit stressed when I am designing but also full of energy, and more concentrated than usual, it is a nice feeling, it also makes me feel realized.

I feel extremely happy and satisfied, probably also exhausted if I am been working on a project for a very long time, but overall only positive emotions.

I believe a design that covers an existing and real need is certainly always a successful design, but also innovative projects that may not go to solve a problem but they come straight to the heart of the people are to be considered successful, especially for the age we live in, where new ideas enter the market continuously.

I usually look at how much is the aesthetics coherent with the functionality, I think when this relationship is balanced the design can only be a good design. Then there is also the emotional aspect, that I personally believe it's very important, this aspect is given by the materials, the colors, the textures that were used.

My biggest source of inspiration has always been the Japanese culture and design, the care for the simple and clear shapes, lack of exaggeration and the consideration for the emotional aspect of the design. The inspiration for my work arrives quite often randomly, it might be a small detail, a shape, phrase, to triggers something in my head. I feed my creativity by looking at other people's work, or through magazines and by traveling and enlarging my horizons.

I live in Europe, I don't feel attached to one country in particular since I have lived in many different European countries. I noticed and experienced that every country has its own distinctive way of doing design, therefore more than being affected by it I have been inspired and surprised by this variety.

For sure the cutlery belongs to some of my favorite design items inside the house, together with teapots and mugs. Mostly things that you can find in the kitchen because they are that kind of object that always attire my attention when I go to visit someone, maybe it is because I like cooking, therefore I pay more attention to those objects.

A classic suggestion is not to fall in love with a project, it sounds trivial but I have been in that situation once, I was too convinced and too in love with my design that I was not able to see things from different perspective, to go one step back to change something, that is not what a good designer should do. Once I was able to see my projects from an objective point of view, to listen to other people feedbacks to question my decision, designing became more challenging and therefore the satisfaction at the end of a work is really deserved, and it is also the best way to learn and grow as a professional. Another suggestion is to travel, to make different experiences in life because the bigger your horizons are the bigger your creative impact will be.

For sure I try to avoid breaks. When I design I need to be immersed in the project, so usually, I try to eliminate all the distraction, shut the phone and so on. I must say that I also need to fix strict deadlines because I noticed that I work a bit better under pressure.

It really depends on what am I designing, if it is a pattern for a textile, a graphic or a product, for sure not just a couples of hours, especially because it always happens that there are some modifications to be managed during the process, so to really say that a project is officially finished it always takes time.

"do you need to be creative to be a designer?"

I really enjoy working on innovative ideas, whenever there is a very conceptual project that needs much research and requires the use of new technologies, software materials, etc.

Usually, I develope my design independently, but sometimes I also do collaborations with other people. I have worked on several projects together with a team.

Emails are the best way to contact me.