SOPHIE DRIES
Architect and Designer

Sophie Dries Architect is a Paris- and Milan-based design studio founded in 2014 by architect and designer Sophie Dries. Trained at ENSA Paris-Malaquais (HMONP), Aalto University Helsinki (Master’s in Design), and the Louvre School of Contemporary Art, Sophie merges architectural rigor with artistic sensibility.

Her early career includes collaborations with Parisian luxury studios such as Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Pierre Yovanovitch, and Christian Liaigre. In 2015, she participated in the Jorn Utzon Foundation residency at Villa Can Lis, Mallorca, where she launched her TRACES collection of furniture, objects, and carpets.

Sophie Dries creates numbered-edition furniture and objects exhibited internationally at Salone del Mobile Milan, PAD London, Collectible Brussels, and Salon New York, with ceramics represented by L’Eclaireur in Paris and Los Angeles.

Her work explores the dialogue between raw materials and luxury, radical lines and primitive forms, always grounded in context and light. Inspired by masters such as Aalto, Scarpa, Zumthor, and Wright, she combines craftsmanship, material innovation, and scientific curiosity to craft spaces and objects that are simultaneously timeless, contemporary, and poetic.

Recognized among AD 100 Designers and Phaidon’s World’s Best Interior Designers, Sophie has won the Paris Shop Award (2021) and the AD Land Rover Award (2022).

MARKUS BENESCH
Designer, Inventor and Artist

Markus Benesch Creates is a Munich‑based multi‑disciplinary design studio founded by Markus Benesch in 1989, renowned for its singular approach to surfaces, products, interiors, and immersive spatial experiences. With a vision that dissolves the boundaries between architecture, graphic design, furniture, and art, the studio’s work transforms entire environments—walls, ceilings, floors, and even participant attire—into expressive, playful worlds.

Markus Benesch’s practice is defined by an inventive use of color, pattern, and digital printing techniques, developing innovative surfaces, skins, and structures for the wallpaper, laminate, textile, and interior industries. His studio has executed immersive interior architecture and environmental branding for leading global clients across fashion, hospitality, technology, and culture.

Collaborations include esteemed brands such as Abet Laminati, Aspesi, Arflex, Benetton, Brainlab, Bombay Sapphire, Campari, Ferrero, Fiat, Paul Smith, Hewlett‑Packard, Samsung, Memphis Milano, Jannelli&Volpi, Marburger, Rasch, and Zeyko, among others—testament to the studio’s cross‑industry influence.

Benesch’s oeuvre spans digitally printed surfaces that redefine architectural perception, sculptural furniture, installations, and experiential interiors that engage all senses. His Curious Boy collections and visionary projects blend whimsy with rigor, inviting viewers into worlds where graphics and space coalesce into new dimensions of design.

SEBASTIAN HEPTING
Designer

Sebastian Hepting is a Munich‑based designer whose work over two decades has redefined contemporary lighting design through innovation, craftsmanship, and poetic expression. Beginning his career as an assistant to Vladimir Kagan and later working in Japan with Toshiyuki Kita, Hepting developed a deep appreciation for materiality, cultural heritage, and artisanal techniques. In 2004 he joined Ingo Maurer & Team, where he has since created technically sophisticated and emotionally expressive luminaires, collaborating with engineers, architects, and craftsmen worldwide.

Hepting’s signature approach combines experimentation with meticulous material exploration. His designs transform light into immersive experiences, blending function, atmosphere, and narrative. Notable works include MOODMOON, a responsive luminaire that adapts to human rhythms and environments, and CANDLELIGHT, celebrated for its sculptural elegance and awarded the German Design Award “Best in Design Special” in 2023. His sculptural glass pendants, site‑specific installations, and experimental wall and floor luminaires exemplify a vision where light becomes both object and environment, sculpting space while engaging the senses.

Through his work, Hepting transcends conventional lighting design, crafting luminous objects that are simultaneously technical feats and poetic experiences, emphasizing the intimate interplay between light, material, and human perception.

MAXIMILIAN PRÜFER
Artist

Maximilian Prüfer is a German conceptual artist whose work investigates humanity’s impact on nature and the delicate interconnections between humans, animals, and the environment. His practice addresses urgent ecological and social questions, exploring the consequences of human intervention while highlighting our intrinsic ties to the natural world. Prüfer works across photography, installation, and experimental techniques such as Naturantypie, recording the traces of insects, snails, raindrops, and other natural phenomena to reveal unseen patterns in nature.

A central project, Fruits of Labour, documents the extraordinary human labor required to sustain biodiversity in China’s Sichuan province, where fruit trees must be hand-pollinated due to the disappearance of insects and birds following mid‑20th-century policies like Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward. Photographic works such as Performance – Hand Pollination and From Flower to Flower capture this meticulous process, offering a reflection on human adaptability, ecological fragility, and the long-term effects of political and environmental decisions.

Prüfer’s work combines scientific observation, historical context, and artistic inquiry, inviting viewers to reconsider humanity’s relationship with the natural world. By revealing hidden ecological processes and emphasizing the delicate balance between human agency and nature, he creates spaces where art, science, and environmental awareness converge.

ULA SANIAWA
Artist

Ula Saniawa is a London‑based artist and founder of Unit89, a studio devoted to clay-based installations that explore the intersection of form, space, and human experience. Trained in architecture at the Architectural Association School of Architecture and London Metropolitan University, Saniawa approaches her work with an architect’s precision, using the environment as both canvas and context. Her pieces create a dialogue with their surroundings, accentuating voids, shadows, and the subtle interplay between presence and absence.

Clay, with its tactile vulnerability and capacity for spontaneity, is central to Saniawa’s practice. Through it, she investigates themes of duality, growth, and the balance between order and chaos, reflecting on the origins of human connection and the ways we inhabit the world. Each handcrafted piece carries unique gestures while sharing a lineage with its counterparts, generating conversations among forms that simultaneously emphasize individuality and shared essence.

Saniawa’s installations transform space into contemplative environments where structure coexists with chance, inviting reflection on how material, form, and context shape perception. Her work blends the rigour of architectural thinking with the poetry of artisanal craft, producing immersive experiences that resonate with both the physical and emotional dimensions of space.

PETER STRAKA
Designer

Peter Straka is a Vienna‑educated designer and the creative force behind many of KAIA’s most iconic lighting objects. A graduate of Industrial Design at the Viennese University of Applied Arts with formal training as a metalworker and engineer, Straka blends technical mastery with an artisan’s eye for material expression.

Deeply influenced by the rebellious spirit of the Viennese Jugendstil and Vienna Secession movements, his designs reinterpret historical avant‑garde aesthetics through contemporary craftsmanship and precision. This artistic lineage informs his approach to form and structure, resulting in lighting objects that seamlessly balance sculptural presence with functional clarity.

The lighting pieces Straka designs for KAIA are distinguished by their harmonious fusion of art, technology, and craftsmanship—each conceived with a rigorous yet poetic clarity of purpose. For him, design is both a complete circle and a continuous journey with no beginning or end: a journey made manifest in objects that are striking aesthetic forms when unlit, and purposeful sources of light when illuminated.

Straka’s oeuvre spans elegant suspended systems like the EON series, minimalist wall and table lamps, and enduring classics such as the LIA family of luminaires—each embodying his belief that essential design arises from the intersection of material truth, geometric rigor, and sensory experience

JOHN WHELAN // GSL WORKS
Designer

John Whelan is a leading specialist in heritage design and creative direction, and founder of the award‑winning design studio The Guild of Saint Luke (GSL). An Oxford University graduate in Modern History, he is celebrated for reinventing historic interiors with a profound respect for craftsmanship, context, and cultural legacy.

Whelan’s oeuvre includes the revival of the classic French brasserie—France’s iconic culinary and social institution—and high‑profile collaborations with heritage brands such as Cire Trudon, the oldest candlemaker in France. His work bridges the worlds of design, restoration, and cultural storytelling, and has been featured in The World of Interiors, Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair, and The Times. He has also contributed to The Business of Fashion.

In 2023, his first monograph, Ateliers of Europe: An Atlas of Decorative Arts Workshops (Prestel), was published—a visually compelling tribute to Europe’s most distinguished and endangered ateliers, documenting centuries‑old traditions of crystal, ceramics, wrought iron, fabric, and more.

Under his creative direction, GSL’s work goes beyond restoration to reinterpret heritage through a contemporary lens, emphasizing noble materials, artisanal expertise, and emotional resonance. Whelan lives and works between Venice and international cultural capitals.