The studio · Founder's note
A small,
considered
practice.
One person on every decision, from the first letter to the last lamp. In person across New Jersey and New York, remotely anywhere.
In her words
I design rooms to a sentence. A home is not a style; it is a self made legible in space. My work begins by listening — to how you actually live — and ends only when a room feels inevitable.
— CacauPrincipal Designer
The practice
Founded2026
BasedWestfield, New Jersey
Working inNew Jersey · New York · Remote
On every projectCacau, principal designer
New workBy inquiry and referral
The name
sou
/soʊ/ — verb, first person singular of serI am. The most personal verb in Portuguese, used not for what you do, but for who you are.
soul
/soʊl/ — English, phonetic echoWhat remains when style is taken away. The part of a room that cannot be bought.
SOU began in Portuguese, in the idea that a home should say who you are before it says what you like. The studio is an attempt to design that feeling on purpose.
i.
Restraint
Fewer, better things, given room to breathe.
ii.
Light first
We plan around the way the day moves through a room.
iii.
Materials age well
Surfaces that earn their patina.
iv.
Made to be lived in
Beautiful, but never precious.