SO Dsgn Shows Us How It’s Done: Inside the Chicago Studio Mixing Brand and Industrial Design

Published

November 6, 2023

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Rotimi Solola always thought he’d start his own design agency. That day arrived sooner than expected, though, and rather than wait, he seized the opportunity to start freelancing in 2017 and open his industrial design studio, SO Dsgn, only two years later.

“I was working at Motorola on the cell phone design team. I was fortunate to launch a product. And it was great,” said Rotimi, partner and director of industrial design at SO Dsgn. “But I had a really big passion to design as many things in different industries as I could. So that was the main premise. I ended up getting an opportunity to teach around the same time, so it just made sense to start it.”

Theresa Christine Johnson

Theresa entered the world of design through The Dieline. With a background in writing and journalism, she has a passion for discovery and cultivating human connections. Her work for The Dieline is a constant journey to deeply understand all facets of the design process and to investigate what makes designers tick. Theresa’s writing has taken her snorkeling in between the tectonic plates in Iceland, horseback riding through a rural Brazilian town, and riding an octopus art car at Burning Man with Susan Sarandon as part of a funeral procession for Timothy Leary (long story). When not writing, she is planning her next trip or taking too many pictures of her cat.