• Sofia’s passion for leather was sparked by horses
• She has used salmon skin from restaurant waste
• She specialises in moulded leather, shallang and traditionnal saddlery techniques

Sofia Shazak designs functional and ornamental leather pieces for art, performance and haute couture. Her portfolio includes a custom leather punching bag for a Netflix series and striking bustiers for Maison Schiaparelli. Timeless design and ethical sourcing guide her work: Sophia exclusively works with vegetable-tanned European leather and never uses uncertified endangered species. she works with traditional leather techniques and new technologies with equal confidence. Her practice is fuelled by research, experimentation and a drive to break new ground. Sophia mainly specilises in the shallang technique, originally used to decorate horse birdles. "Shallang is a Hungarian ornamental technique from the 19th century that I was able to decode by studying photographs," she says.