Stephanie Reppas

New York-based artist and industrial designer Stephanie Reppas, Founder and Creative Director of October Design.

Just like the objects she creates, Stephanie’s career trajectory was rather unexpected. She was born and raised in abject normalcy [Ohio] – a good thing, as it turns out, since it forced her to develop her creativity to keep herself amused. She designed her first logo when she was 15, and went on to art school in South Florida, obtaining degrees in visual communications and marketing. She then found her way to New York and opened her own studio in an abandoned church building.

Her love of design (and power tools!) led her to branch out from traditional graphic design, to more industrial 3-D projects and media. These projects eventually became less of a hobby and more of a large-scale obsession. Now Steph spends her days scouring old barns and estates looking for unique pieces to transform into functional lighting and décor. Some of the more unusual materials that have made their way into her work include emu eggs, microscope slides, horse tack and Barbicide jars. She combines these with iron, wood and leather, transforming ordinary objects into extraordinary works of art.

When she's not making stuff, Steph is throwing down neologisms, taking in a movie at the drive-in, or embarking on the occasional road trip (top down, Tom Waits cranked).