Team
Sophie Thomas MA RCA FRSA, Founding Director
BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Central St Martins School of Art 1994,
MA Illustration, Royal College of Art 1997.
Sophie is the founding director of thomas.matthews. She plays a vocal part in promoting sustainable thinking in design education and regularly participates in conferences and workshops in the UK and Internationally. She is co-founder of the social enterprise Three Trees Don't Make a Forest, set up in 2008 to educate and inspire communication designers through practical tools and advice and greengaged an organisation that creates events and networks to encourage the debate around sustainable design that launched in 2008 at the London Design Festival.
She is an active mentor for up and coming designers and graduates who have an interest in sustainable design, writes regularly for the design press and is a trustee for the UK Design Council.
David Grbac BA (Hons), Senior Designer
BA (Hons) Graphic Design, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology 2004.
After graduating from the RMIT, David spent a year at The Works in Melbourne designing, artworking and project-managing a wide range of professional projects for the college and for other clients.
Peter Clarkson BA (Hons), Senior Designer
BA (Hons) Typographic Design, London College of Communication.
After graduating from LCC, Peter spent five months honing his typography and design skills at several work placements before joining thomas.matthews to work on both print and exhibition design.
Charlotte Van Den Bogaert BA MA, Studio Manager
BA MA Commercial Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
Graphic Design Portfolio Course, Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design.
After her degree in business and marketing, Charlotte moved to London to study Graphic Design for a year. She worked as Design & Marketing Co-ordinator for a design consultancy before joining thomas.matthews.
Tara Hanrahan MA RCA, Associate - Designer and Art Director
BA (Hons) Graphic Design, University of Brighton 1999,
MA Communication Art and Design, Royal College of Art 2001.
Tara has worked with thomas.matthews since 1999, designing and art-directing a range of communication projects around the globe. She advises on sustainability in design and is a visiting lecturer at UK and international universities.
Rowan Conway BA (Hons), Associate - Strategy Consultant
BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion and Illustration, University for the Creative Arts 1995
MSc Responsibility and Business Practice, University of Bath 2009
Rowan has over ten years’ experience advising public and private sector organisations on communication strategy, most recently working with the Olympic Delivery Authority and the London Development Agency on their joint code of consultation and community engagement strategy for the Olympic Park masterplan. Prior to this, she was with sustainability consultancy Beyond Green where she designed engagement strategies for a range of public bodies including West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust, Lea Valley Regional Park Authority and Tower Hamlets Council.
Rowan’s core skills are in facilitation and project management, and she is a trained action researcher. She has chaired multiple conferences and overseen the design and delivery of a wide range of events from small focus groups to major international research symposia.
Alexie Sommer MA RCA, Associate
BA (Hons) Graphic Design, University of Brighton 2000,
MA Communication Art and Design, Royal College of Art 2002.
Alexie Sommer is a thomas.matthews associate with over 10 years design industry experience in graphic design, art direction and project management. Working at The Guardian as well as running an independent practice has developed Alexie into a 360 branding and marketing thinker full of ideas and business solutions. As part of the thomas.matthews team Alexie is responsible for the client relationship, ensuring collaboration delivers tailored results, and maintaining thomas.matthews design excellence.