DURUKAN DESIGN

Funda Durukan

Principal and Director of Interior Architectural Design

 

SKANSKA USA BUILDING INC.

Sophia Ndege

Senior Project Engineer

Born in Tanzania, Africa and raised in Victoria, Australia Sophia’s cultural background is a strong asset for project management in New York and around the world. Sophia is fluent in her native tongue Swahili, English and has an elementary proficiency in the Spanish language. Sophia briefly studied within the Bachelor of Science (Civil and Environmental Engineering) program at the University of Maryland, in Maryland, U.S.A in 2013 and graduated from RMIT University in Victoria, Australia with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Project Management, Construction degree in 2014.

Sophia’s approach in management with clients is to provide strong commitment, ensuring to provide transparent communication during the entire process. A talented negotiator, she is known for her ability to achieve the best outcome for her customers and clients. She is also known for her professionalism and enthusiasm as she diligently works to appropriately identify needs, understand client objectives and help customers reach their end goals. In her spare time, Sophia enjoys spending time with her family and friends and traveling

 

THE EGG COLLECTIVE

Photo credit: www.eggcollective.com

Egg Collective is a New York-based design company established in 2011 by three female designers — Stephanie Beamer, Crystal Ellis, and Hillary Petrie. Pulling from its founders’ backgrounds in architecture, art, and woodworking, the company creates exquisitely engineered furniture and lighting. All of Egg Collective’s work is made in its own wood shop and in collaboration with a community of small-scale fabricators.

In addition to its commitment to high-quality, local craftsmanship, Egg Collective’s work is united by an underlying attention to detail, surface, and form. The company’s sculptural work focuses on the combination of  natural materials with simple, elemental forms. Believing that objects should grow more beautiful with time, the company chooses materials that will acquire a patina with use. All of Egg Collective’s finishes are hand applied, and its metals are unsealed. These “live” metal finishes will pick up traces of the life lived around them. Oxygen, water, oils, and fingerprints will cause changes in surface coloration making each piece unique over time.

Egg Collective also represents a small selection of artists, displaying their work along side its own designs. The company maintains a wood shop and showroom in New York City.

 

FARA’H SALEHI DESIGN

Photo credit: William Hereford

Fara’h Salehi grew up in Washington DC as a member of a diverse family of Iranian and Nicaraguan origin.  As a young adult, she moved to New York and made Brooklyn her home. This is where Fara’h studied and currently lives, works and makes art.

In 2000 Fara’h graduated from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY with a degree in Industrial Design. While at Pratt, Fara’h was the recipient of Talent Search Scholarship and the winner of the Takifuji Art Award.

Farah’s current material of choice is metal. It is both her art and her craft.  She makes her living as a metal fabricator, welder designer.  As an artist, Farah is constantly intrigued by the very nature of this complex element; it is strong yet forgiving, it is organic and holds memory. As her connection with metal deepens, she continues to expand her visual vocabulary and hone her skills as a craftsman. Fara’h constantly strives to capture tension and compression to express movement in her work.