Our Story

The start of Suhm

Where would you like to begin—the start of the company? The start of the idea? The dawn of time? It’s all connected. If you want to go right back to it, Suhm was founded by Matt Strempel and Phil Clark, creative directors with a mutual love of shapes. Squares, triangles, circles. The building blocks of design. Maybe of life itself.

“So, like DNA?” someone just said, probably.

No, obviously we are not going to talk about deoxyribonucleic acid. But the shape of DNA? Sure. That double helix thing is gorgeous. 

Now, we’re turning shapes into art. As designers, we have always enjoyed making art, but it’s always been for someone else. When we wanted to design a circle, the client would want a triangle and a square with a gradient and a drop shadow. And they’d want it twice as big. Suhm was born from our desire to make the art we’ve always loved.

Matt and Phil, Founders of Suhm.Suhm Founders, Matt and Phil

So what makes a Suhm piece really Suhm? A Suhm design brings together our individual strengths and sensibilities for stylised shapes, structures, and finishes — the geometric harmonised with the organic; an immaculate circle finished by hand to create something perfect in its imperfections. When you get right up close to a Suhm, you’ll see the hand-finished quality in the details. It’s not a mistake or a misprint, it’s the human element that goes into every single Suhm piece.

Aesthetically, we are inspired by the masters of minimalism. Paul Klee and Peter Gee, mid-century architecture, Scandinavian product design, nature, the human body, machinery, all distilled to their essential forms. We can’t help but find inspiration in the ordinary and create our designs to capture a deceptive simplicity. We’re not trying to redesign the wheel but damn, we do love those circles.

Suhm is more than an art studio; it’s certainly more than its two founders. Our mission to create beautiful things extends well beyond our own designs — we’re committed to amplifying the talents of other artists who share our vision. So if you’re inspired by what we're trying to do here, if your desire to create beautiful art, design, even products, aligns with Suhm, get in touch. We’d love to chat about doing Suhm together. 

And, finally, a note on how we’re trying to do Suhm good. Through our support of KidsXpress, we’re making a difference through the power of art. You can read a little more about it here and watch a short video.

So there you go. Shapes, hey?