TASTEMAKERS

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"Ignacio looked at a piece I was working on and said, 'Humph, Princeton. The way he designed that door, it'll last six months.' So, I moved offices into the woodworking firm and re-learned everything from a very craft perspective."

He apprenticed there for three years, gaining a respect for craftsmanship that is especially apparent in his eponymous furniture line for Baker, which was unveiled to the press last October and will go into showrooms this fall. The collection expands upon a Baker line Sofield released in 2001, and features sumptuous, deco-inspired pieces made of maple, French rosewood and American walnut accented with ivory, silver leaf, brushed nickel and bronze. There's also a lighting component featuring an array of ceiling lights, sconces and table and floor lamps adorned with alabaster, mercury glass, ostrich leather and ivory-colored silk cording enclosed in transparent glass tubes. It's this fusion of modern and traditional for which Sofield is best known.

After a stint as a consultant for Ralph Lauren, Sofield established Aero Studios in 1992 with Thomas O'Brien, another Ralph Lauren alumnus. The two worked for such high-powered figures as Giorgio Armani, Martha Stewart and Tom Ford, who was then reinvigorating Gucci into a global fashion power. Ford, who also studied interior design at Parsons, eventually hired Sofield to redesign Gucci's shops worldwide. (He still works with Gucci and its new creative director, Frida Giannini.)

In 1996, Sofield started Studio Sofield, which now has offices in New York and Los Angeles. One of his first projects was to design the interior of the SoHo Grand Hotel, which earned raves for evoking the neighborhood's industrial past and hip present with such elements as a glass bottle staircase, cast iron detailing and concrete pillars. (Over the years, Sofield has redesigned the penthouse and some of the rooms, and he's now working with the hotel to celebrate its 10th anniversary this September.)