Sophie Buhai, now onto her second career act, is behind the striking collection of namesake jewelry featuring architectural pieces. And for the new mom, who was one half of the girl cult label Vena Cava in the early aughts, keeping work and home life in close quarters has been paramount to the approach she takes to building her namesake brand. From her home in Silverlake, Buhai shares her typical routine with the CFDA.

“My baby Maude wakes me up at 7 and we hang out in bed with her for an hour, which is our family time. My studio is in my house on the ground floor, so I just go downstairs. The first hour is catching up on emails and news. My team comes in at 10, and we usually all meet and talk about whatever we need to go over for the day. Then I’ll work on some kind of project, whether it’s going over designs, meeting with our jeweler, going over prototypes, or doing research or sketching, depending on where I am in the design process. I might go over web sales that came in, or look at sell-throughs from different stores. It’s the full scope of the business.

I usually take a break around 1 to get lunch, and run upstairs to feed my baby and hang out with her for a little while. I go back downstairs and do some more emails and meet with the team, do more design if need be, and then my nanny leaves.

I’m still a new mom. I’m with [the baby] half the time, so I’m in the office until 2 every day and then I work from my home area, and am on my phone while she’s sleeping. I may take her to Cookbook [Echo Park] and do grocery-shopping, pick up things for the house, then we’ll go on a walk around the Silver Lake reservoir. It’s usually a good time to have a conference call or call my art director or a photographer to talk about an upcoming shoot or a concept.

It’s that balance of trying to run a business myself but also spending time with my baby that I’m still figuring out. So far she seems good and business seems good.

Seven to 9 is usually inspiration time for me. That’s when I look through books, read articles or go on Instagram and catch up on stuff. If there’s something I want to research or check out online museum archives and look at imagery, that’s my time to get lost and be alone. It’s quiet. I’m not in the office with the team and I’m not with the baby. And that’s sometimes when I get the best work done.”