Sarah Curran Coffey

In 2015, I started a creative studio that works with brands, artists and designers to create rich and compelling stories online and in the world. Clients have included West Elm, Williams Sonoma, Inc., Jungmaven and Apartment Therapy. From creative concepting and strategy through editing and video production, I bring together teams of copywriters, art directors, designers and videographers to execute projects for brands big and small. Learn more at clearercollective.com.

Always obsessed with space (and having spent most of my career as a lifestyle writer and editor) I've been practicing home clearing for a decade. In 2015, I developed my own modern method of clearing your head by getting your house in order. I began sharing these techniques with others in workshops, consultations and online content. Although I no longer do one-on-one consultations, I continue to publish content and teach occasional workshops on living well with less at home. If you're interested in home clearing, you can learn more here or read press about this project here and here.

Launched by Chip and Joanna Gaines in 2017, The Magnolia Journal is a quarterly lifestyle publication that inspires and empowers readers to live and love well at home. Based in Waco, Texas, the Gaineses have raised the profile of their hometown through their hit TV show Fixer Upper alongside other businesses, including the popular Magnolia Market at the Silos. In 2018, The Magnolia Journal editors reached out to me, and I’ve written home tours and design guides for every issue since.

Since 2016, I’ve worked with Domino Magazine as a contributing editor and writer. My pieces include home tours and profiles of creative luminaries like Jessica Walsh, Parisian designer Dorothée Meilichzon, Hawkins NY founders Paul Denoly and Nick Blaine, Prinkshop founder Pamela Bell, Bird owner Jen Mankins, Milan design darlings Dimore Studio, Rifle Paper Company founder Anna Bond, British polymath Faye Toogood and iconic American designer Thomas O’Brien. A beloved interiors and lifestyle magazine, Domino combines a quarterly print publication with digital content and e-commerce.

As Editorial Director at West Elm (2011-2015), I oversaw content for the brand's catalog, online, store and packaging channels. I concepted cross-channel campaigns from product development through publication and oversaw a team of eight employees.

Working with a graphic designer, I developed the branding and identity for West Elm Workspace. Created in collaboration with office manufacturer Inscape, Workspace was the home goods retailer's first foray into the commercial furniture market. I concepted, created and wrote the copy for a brand identity that spanned web, print and showroom spaces.

I helped to strategize and launch West Elm's handcrafted initiative (2013-15), a pledge to pay $35 million directly to artisans around the world. In 2013, I traveled with a small production crew to India and Nepal, where we documented artisan workshops, creating a series of ten videos that we used to bring their stories to life. West Elm met its commitment in less than two years and expanded into partnerships with Fair Trade and local US makers.

Working with Apartment Therapy founder Maxwell Ryan, I researched and wrote the resource guide for the Big Book of Small Cool Spaces. A writer and editor at Apartment Therapy from 2006 to 2011, I produced and oversaw shopping content on the site. 

At heart, I'm a design fan. I've spent most of my career finding ways to learn and write about the people and principles behind all kinds of design (industrial, interior, architecture, digital, analog, anything and everything). I've met and written about soooo many amazing people, from stars like Renzo Piano and Patricia Urquiola to up-and-comers and young studio collectives. I love history as much as the potential for design to change the world. I've written (or ghost-written) about design for many publications (including the AIA, US Green Building Council and Architectural Record) and I I founded Apartment Therapy's shop talk, style icon and designers to watch columns.

At Apartment Therapy, I found a like-minded community of people who loved their homes and wanted to share ideas for healthy, happy, day-to-day living. From 2007 through 2011, I worked there as a writer and editor, documenting real homes and overseeing the site's shopping content, store profiles, product reviews and listings.

Radio, print and digital publications have interviewed me on everything from design to how to make a living as a blogger. Publications include NPR (WBEZ in Chicago), Woman's Day, VenusZine and the Chicago Tribune (where I wrote a weekly column from 2009 to 2010, the year I moved to New York). Presentations I've given range from a 2011 Pecha Kucha on Finnish design at ICFF (the International Contemporary Furniture Fair) to a 2013 panel on handcrafts for the Alliance for Artisan Enterprise. I also helped to organize the 2013 Etsy Labs summit Talk Shop: The Future of Content and Commerce.

I concepted, scripted and helped to produce this video featuring SNL comedian Cecily Strong. Working with a small creative team and West Elm Home Stylist Johanna Mele, we transformed Cecily's home into a space that (like her) is smart, stylist and a little off-kilter.

For the Kitchn, Apartment Therapy's cooking site, I wrote guides to the best farmer's markets, grocery stores, suppliers, tools, renovation resources and the occasional dinner party story. Fun fact: Later, as the Editorial Director at West Elm, I oversaw cross-channel content for a partnership promoting The Kitchn Cookbook, which won the James Beard Award for General Cooking.

When West Elm launched a sister brand in 2012, I worked with the creative team to develop the branding, trademark intellectual property and execute cross-channel marketing, from web to stores to catalogs and packaging. We even developed an in-store coffee shop, published a coffee card mobile app and sold mugs and totes with trademarked taglines like 'Designed To Delight, Made To Be Used' and 'Coffee Is Good For You.'

Working with SOM's urban planners, I wrote the first edition of their City Design Practice, a manifesto for building dense, distinct and sustainable 21st century cities. This guide to SOM's principles and projects was translated into multiple languages, including Mandarin Chinese.

From 2008 to 2010, I worked as a full-time freelance writer for the Chicago office of architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. I wrote and edited pages on SOM.com, ghost-wrote journal articles for architects, contributed to the firm's research and publications, and even pitched in on the writing for a master plan or two.

My art writing included exhibition catalogs for Ann Nathan Gallery and research contributions to An American Point of View: The Daniel J. Terra Collection. I've also worked as an archivist — working with Debra Purden, I helped to catalog Judy Saslow’s collection of Bill Traylor artwork. Every once in a while, I also worked as a curator. My favorite project was Pinup: Portraits of Women. This all-female show at the Hat Factory in Chicago featured embroidery artist Jenny Hart, printmaker Francine Affourtit and installation artist Yevgenia Kaganovich, among others.

As a critic, I wrote book reviews for VenusZine and Punk Planet. I specialized in critiques of art and design books, graphic novels, film and fiction. I also did a little bit of media theorizing at the University of Chicago, where I worked as an assistant in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies. (Random side note: I also wrote a series of short stories for my U of C graduate thesis. The collection was a little strange but ended up winning the Catherine Ham Memorial Award. After school, I published something like two short stories in tiny zines, did a couple of book store and art gallery readings and that was that.)