In Honor of Female Founders Day
There is a version of building a company that prioritizes speed—scale quickly, expand widely, produce more.
This is not that version.
Materie has been built slowly, through instinct, relationships, and a belief that not everything benefits from acceleration. Here's what that has looked like from the inside.
I come from a lineage of builders—though none of them would have described themselves that way.
My grandmother raised seven children while running a portrait studio, working as a seamstress, teaching ice skating, and offering psychic readings. She built a life by saying yes to what she could do.
My grandfather founded and scaled the largest kitchen cabinet business in Colorado in the 1980s—with a seventh-grade education. His path wasn't linear, but it was consistent.
My mother built one of the top luxury interior design firm in Aspen from what began as a volunteer position at my elementary school.
My father has moved fluidly across industries—commercial real estate, fine art, even sports franchises—guided by curiosity, commitment, and an incredible entrepreneurial spirit.
What I inherited wasn't a method. It was a perspective: that building something meaningful rarely follows a prescribed path, and that the most enduring growth often happens behind the scenes.
Materie began the same way.
Long before there was a formal plan, there were conversations. As an interior designer, I've always been drawn to the people behind the objects—asking artisans how they started, what sustained them, what they dream about.
Over time, those conversations became something more: a network of relationships, a point of view, a quiet certainty that the objects we live with carry more than function. They carry history, narrative, artistry, and intention.
That perspective has always shaped how I think about a home.
I've never believed in filling a space quickly. The most considered interiors are built over time—layered slowly, with pieces that hold meaning. Fewer objects, but finer ones. Things chosen not for immediacy, but for resonance: materials that age well, forms that endure, pieces you keep returning to.
A home, at its best, is not assembled. It is collected.
Materie is an extension of that belief.
The first version launched in late 2023 with a single piece: the Materie x Hangai cashmere pillows, developed in collaboration with artisans in Mongolia through my longstanding relationship with Hangai Mountain Textiles.
From there, the collection grew through recognition—pieces encountered, returned to, and eventually trusted. Society Limonta. Riccardo Monte. Ringvide. Blacksaw. And most recently, Studio Nudo, bringing a new sense of balance and form.
Every addition has been deliberate.
The goal has never been volume—it has been coherence. Objects that exist in conversation with one another without feeling uniform. Sustainable not only in material, but in permanence.
That thinking extends into how pieces are produced and offered. Where possible, Materie prioritizes made-to-order and small-batch production—reducing excess, limiting overproduction, and allowing artisans to work with more intention.
It requires patience. Longer lead times. A different rhythm.
But it allows for something more considered: objects that aren't mass-produced, but made with purpose—often by hand, one of a kind, or in very limited quantities.
Restraint has been the discipline. Growth has meant knowing what to leave out.
There have been missteps—that's inevitable. I've learned a great deal about e-commerce, importing, and supply chain management, and have genuinely enjoyed the process along the way.
Materie will continue to grow deliberately: grounded in thoughtful living, considered sourcing, and a deep respect for how things are made.
Thank you for being here.
—Nicole
