Meet Sophia D'Auria, Client Relations Manager

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As Client Relations Manager, Sophia’s genial voice is the first contact you may have with Hughes. A Pasadena native and avid collector of vintage design, she has a breadth of knowledge of fine art, vintage design and antiques. Before coming to Hughes, she worked in the design industry for a high-end furniture and lighting manufacturer running operations, project managing, product development, and customer relations. Working there, she became a woodworker, metalworker, and electrician, and since 2014 she has run her own business designing and manufacturing artist-made craft lighting called SoPhab Design. She grew up surrounded by antique collectors, namely her father who was a dealer of antiques during the late 60’s in Argentina.

Sophia is holding two ceramic tiles by Doyle Lane (1925 - 2002) that were sold in our January 2018 Art & Design Auction. Lane was a Los Angeles based African American ceramist whose brightly glazed beads, tiles, quirky sculpture, and hand-thrown bowls are highly sought by collectors. Lane maintained a studio in the El Sereno district of East Los Angeles and exhibited at Brockman Gallery in Leimert Park (1968) and Ankrum Gallery on La Cienega Boulevard (1967, 1968), both significant hubs for African American Art in Los Angeles. His work is held by the Smithsonian, LACMA and the Huntington Library.