Katie Stout

Courtesy of the Artist and R & Company

Brooklyn-based designer Katie Stout (b. 1989) creates work that is as an extraordinary amalgam of traditional craft techniques, the legacy of female-dominated decorative arts and conceptual art. With every piece, Stout arrives at something that is complex and unexpected: an end-product that deconstructs traditional processes and transcends the object’s function and form.

Born in Portland, Maine, Stout grew up in New Jersey and holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her practice is shaped by an urge to subvert utilitarian forms, just past the threshold of comfortability. Stout’s iconic ceramic Girl lamps reflect this multidisciplinary approach as they challenge standards of beauty and luxury, while referencing themes rooted in the history of art and design.

Stout’s body of work expands beyond lighting to seating, shelving, mirrors, carpets and curtains, incorporating materials such as clay, bronze and glass. With the intention to peel back layers of seriousness often associated with design, Stout uses traditional materials to create non-traditional forms, pushing the boundaries of what is expected and acceptable.

Stout’s dynamic practice embraces the formal qualities of design, fine art, and fashion and is inspired by an eclectic spectrum of references, from decorative arts and the intricate patterns of Victorian lace to kitsch suburban interiors and female-dominated craft traditions, such as pottery and textile work. Stout interprets and combines these varied aesthetic and conceptual threads through her own distinctive lens to produce unique works that subvert and dismantle traditional frameworks and understandings of functional objects. In instances, her works are imbued with an effortless and carefree humor, while others carry an incisive critique of outmoded stereotypes on everything from the decorative arts to gender roles. Layered and intricate, Stout’s approach and vision evade clear definition, as she moves freely across the ideas, materials, and techniques that spark her interest.

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Katie Stout is recognized as a leading designer, and her work has been widely exhibited in institutions across the United States and abroad, including at the Anderson Ranch Art Center (Aspen), Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas), Schloss Hollenegg (Austria), and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco). Stout additionally collaborated to produce furniture with Bjarne Melgaard for his 2014 installation for the Whitney Biennial; collaborated with Jeremy Scott on F/W collection in 2018; and launched her own clothing collection in 2019, among numerous other achievements. Her works are held in the collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, Museum of Arts and Design, and SFMOMA. Stout holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. She lives and works in Hudson, NY.