This young designer, currently based in Brooklyn, New York, graduated in 2012 from one of the most important art institutions in the United States: Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She was also featured on Ellen’s Design Challenge, filmed in LA. Katie Stout grew up in suburban New Jersey, where originality was absent. Perhaps this is the main reason why her design is an act of rebellion against everything traditional, ordinary and bland.
She describes her design as Naïve pop, but we could also use the word "irreverent" to define her work. Stout is designer and artist all at once, and that’s something that comes clear from the very second we take a look to her creations. She creates furniture primarily intended to prevent the conventions: from eye and hat rugs or soft chairs to lamps with extraterrestrial forms, each piece seems to come from another universe cartoon-like.
Things like fire inspire her – something pretty difficult to explain. Her design, by contrast, can speak very loud. To Katie Stout, there are no impossible forms or useless materials. She wants to characterize anything that takes itself too seriously, and her furniture design proves that. Why does a chair have to look like a chair?
