The Cool Drop: Women Bending The Boundaries of Creativity and Art
Work driven by a point of view that's entirely their own.
“Cool” has always felt like a catch-all word. A way of describing people who are doing something new, or at least something that feels distinct from what already exists. What tends to separate their work isn’t just talent. It’s perspective. A point of view that feels fully formed rather than borrowed or assembled from already existing pieces.
Imitation has become second nature. Ideas circulate quickly, get reworked, and reappear in slightly altered forms. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it rarely holds the same weight. The work that stays with you usually comes from a different place. It feels considered from the beginning. As if it couldn’t have been made by anyone else.
This week’s drop is a reflection of that. Women whose work carries a clarity that goes beyond aesthetics and into something more personal.
Milla Tombroff
I discovered Milla Tombroff through this silver piece designed to hold cigarettes and matches. It stopped me in my tracks. Covered in stones, texture, and detail, it feels like it’d have the capability to overwhelm, but instead it draws you in. The more you look, the more you see. I feel this way about all of her pieces. A Brussels-based jeweler by trade, Milla makes handcrafted heirlooms built to withstand trend, as the most interesting objects always do.
Zeynep Satik
Furniture is like clothing for your home. It should be just as considered, not just in how it looks, but in how it holds a space. That’s what draws me to Zeynep Satik’s work at Animate Objects. Her pieces don’t disappear into a room. A chair with a floral back that leans surreal. Tables with legs that feel carved instead of constructed. There’s a clear pull from modern art. The Runa Chair below references Max Ernst’s The Couple in Lace. Function is there but not as the reason you look. Each piece carries a presence. Something you place in a room not to fill it, but to define it.
Jada Veerle
I was drawn to this particular piece by the artist, Jada Veerle, based in East London. A work that is intense in a way that’s hard to look away from. The bodies feel warped and crowded together, like everything is happening too close. She describes this piece as coming from her poetry about watching people she loves struggle with addiction. You don’t need to know that to feel it, but once you do, it lands harder.
Zoe Mohm
Based in Paris, as all great creatives seem to be, Zoé’s work takes the chunky silver cool girl and makes her a little stranger. Her pieces feel messy and beautiful and imperfect. Almost like they’re living. There’s not a single piece that isn’t capable of holding your attention. An visual experience that can only be shaped by human hands.
Julia Fernandez
I discovered Julia Fernandez through this animated ceramic stool and immediately became drawn to everything else. Her work gives a sense of movement to objects that typically feel static. Ceramics that act as sculpture and animation, never fully one or the other. She moves across disciplines seamlessly, taking something traditional and making it feel entirely new.
It’s a privilege to spend time with work like this. To look closely, to write about it, and to share it with you. If we’re responsible for anything, it’s staying open enough to be inspired and generous enough to pass that on.
These artists are doing exactly that.
- Kelly