Sophie Rieu

Sophie is French; she fell in love with Ireland while on holiday with her parents as a teenager and has lived in Ireland since 94. She studied journalism in DIT and went on to work as a freelancer for about three years by which time she was selected by Green MEP Patricia Mc Kenna to become her press officer. She studied design at the Grafton Academy in Dublin as a hobby while working in the European Parliament, and got totally hooked (she used to knit and always loved fashion since a wee girl) and then decided to go full time as a designer. She set up Unicorn Design in 2003. She first created a fair/organic cotton yoga range and worked on commission for private clients through capsule collections made only form organic/fair trade cotton.. As the company grew and designs became popular she then created the first collection of designer wear in 2005 with more elaborate designs made from an array of carefully chosen exquisite natural and organic fabrics. The label Unicorn is about timeless understated elegance with a pinch of playful quirkiness plus added ethics on the environmental and social front. The label has won a no of awards including a Top 50 New product at Showcase 2008 award and the Best Creative Designer award 2008 in a public poll run by the USA consultancy Chic Eco.