Meet Sophie de Haën: the college student responsible for phone cases all over your For You Page
How a University of Arizona student turned her side hustle into a viral phone case company
Story: Mia Tiano
During her journey moving from the crowded streets of New York City to the desert landscape of the University of Arizona, one thing never changed about Sophie de Haën: her passion for creating art.
Stuck in her room during the 2020 COVID outbreak, de Haën couldn’t help but look around and notice the bareness of her empty walls. Her lifelong love for interior design inspired her to pick up a paintbrush and start creating art for her room. Little did she know at the time, these paintings would become the foundation of her future career.
Meet SDH Paints, the brainchild of de Haën’s freshman-year side hobby, which has now blossomed into a business seen nationwide. The small business has 14.8K Instagram followers, and de Haën has built a following of 162.6K on her personal TikTok account, which is where the brand started blowing up after she began posting content of her art. While de Haën’s brand is most known for its popular custom-made phone cases, SDH Paints also sells prints, canvases, and original art pieces made to order.
de Haën describes her brand as becoming “cult-like” after going viral on Instagram and TikTok. Given the fact that she’s also a college student, she believes this has helped her reach the demographic she’s making art for; the majority of her buyers are young women ages 15 to 25, and many are in college themselves. The brand just recently hit a total of 20,000 order sales.
One of de Haën’s most memorable experiences as an artist was seeing her art in the background of the “Sofia with an S” podcast hosted by Sofia Franklyn, who used to co-host Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast. Being a huge follower of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast for many years, de Haën says it was “crazy” to see her artwork on the show. However, it wasn’t until she studied abroad last summer when de Haën realized how big the following of her brand had become.
“In every country I went to, I would randomly meet someone who had my phone case. It’s just such a surreal experience because you don’t really register that you have followers and that people are actually watching you,” said de Haën. “Even if I’m just walking past someone on the street who doesn't acknowledge me, or seeing my cases in the background of a random TikTok on my For You Page, it’s just crazy to me.”
As for the art itself, New York City is the main inspiration for many of her designs.
“Style is obviously a huge thing in New York, and going to a college like Arizona, which is pretty much just a college town, was kind of something new for me,” said de Haën. “I feel like I’ve managed to combine both of the typical college vibe with something more trendy and cool.”
During de Haën’s creative process, her tactic is to start with one focal point, whether it’s text or an image, and create a story around it from there. de Haën usually has a vision of the final product pictured in her head before she puts anything on the canvas.
“I always like to start with one point of interest, and that’s where I get a lot of inspiration from cool tattoos that I see on Instagram,” said de Haën. “Sometimes it takes me a day to finish, but even if I’m a little stalled, I’ll always start with one main focus.”
de Haën also pulls inspiration from her favorite artist Terry Urban, an American artist and designer, and often sees aspects of his work in her own art. She also admires the vintage aesthetic of the Ed Hardy brand and aspires to collaborate with the brand in the future. One of her hopes for SDH Paints is to venture into the fashion realm, while still keeping art as the main element.
Although de Haën is studying psychology, she plans on making design her main career path after she graduates. Through her time creating SDH Paints from scratch over the past two years, she discovered her affinity for marketing and creating a brand image.
“While I love creating art, I don’t really want my career to be labeled as an artist,” said de Haën. “Even though I technically am considered an artist, my passion really lies in brand development and finding the creativity in that rather than the art itself.”
de Haën is continuously trying to expand SDH Paints’ reach and is currently working on a more masculine collection to cater to all genders.
“I think the brand is definitely going to mature with me as a person,” said de Haën. “My first prints that I released are done in a completely different style. I don't know what the brand will look like in the future, but I know that it’s going to evolve with me over time.”
Stuck in her room during the 2020 COVID outbreak, de Haën couldn’t help but look around and notice the bareness of her empty walls. Her lifelong love for interior design inspired her to pick up a paintbrush and start creating art for her room. Little did she know at the time, these paintings would become the foundation of her future career.
Meet SDH Paints, the brainchild of de Haën’s freshman-year side hobby, which has now blossomed into a business seen nationwide. The small business has 14.8K Instagram followers, and de Haën has built a following of 162.6K on her personal TikTok account, which is where the brand started blowing up after she began posting content of her art. While de Haën’s brand is most known for its popular custom-made phone cases, SDH Paints also sells prints, canvases, and original art pieces made to order.
de Haën describes her brand as becoming “cult-like” after going viral on Instagram and TikTok. Given the fact that she’s also a college student, she believes this has helped her reach the demographic she’s making art for; the majority of her buyers are young women ages 15 to 25, and many are in college themselves. The brand just recently hit a total of 20,000 order sales.
One of de Haën’s most memorable experiences as an artist was seeing her art in the background of the “Sofia with an S” podcast hosted by Sofia Franklyn, who used to co-host Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast. Being a huge follower of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast for many years, de Haën says it was “crazy” to see her artwork on the show. However, it wasn’t until she studied abroad last summer when de Haën realized how big the following of her brand had become.
“In every country I went to, I would randomly meet someone who had my phone case. It’s just such a surreal experience because you don’t really register that you have followers and that people are actually watching you,” said de Haën. “Even if I’m just walking past someone on the street who doesn't acknowledge me, or seeing my cases in the background of a random TikTok on my For You Page, it’s just crazy to me.”
As for the art itself, New York City is the main inspiration for many of her designs.
“Style is obviously a huge thing in New York, and going to a college like Arizona, which is pretty much just a college town, was kind of something new for me,” said de Haën. “I feel like I’ve managed to combine both of the typical college vibe with something more trendy and cool.”
During de Haën’s creative process, her tactic is to start with one focal point, whether it’s text or an image, and create a story around it from there. de Haën usually has a vision of the final product pictured in her head before she puts anything on the canvas.
“I always like to start with one point of interest, and that’s where I get a lot of inspiration from cool tattoos that I see on Instagram,” said de Haën. “Sometimes it takes me a day to finish, but even if I’m a little stalled, I’ll always start with one main focus.”
de Haën also pulls inspiration from her favorite artist Terry Urban, an American artist and designer, and often sees aspects of his work in her own art. She also admires the vintage aesthetic of the Ed Hardy brand and aspires to collaborate with the brand in the future. One of her hopes for SDH Paints is to venture into the fashion realm, while still keeping art as the main element.
Although de Haën is studying psychology, she plans on making design her main career path after she graduates. Through her time creating SDH Paints from scratch over the past two years, she discovered her affinity for marketing and creating a brand image.
“While I love creating art, I don’t really want my career to be labeled as an artist,” said de Haën. “Even though I technically am considered an artist, my passion really lies in brand development and finding the creativity in that rather than the art itself.”
de Haën is continuously trying to expand SDH Paints’ reach and is currently working on a more masculine collection to cater to all genders.
“I think the brand is definitely going to mature with me as a person,” said de Haën. “My first prints that I released are done in a completely different style. I don't know what the brand will look like in the future, but I know that it’s going to evolve with me over time.”