Sophie Cuffia & Richard Dell'aiera

The studio

Co-founded in 2017 by artists and creative directors Sophie Cuffia and Richard Dell’aiera, Souffle is an independent creative studio working at the intersection of artistic research and commissioned craft. The studio shapes sensory visual worlds for luxury, beauty, culture, food, and spirits houses.

Our practice is rooted in a deep fascination with light, physical matter, and cinema. Our references come from film and painting, from design and literature, letting them converse until a singular form emerges. From the start, moving between self-initiated artistic projects and commissions has felt entirely natural, each feeding the other.

We have never separated culture from craft, or thinking from doing: context always precedes form. Working with brands has taught us that what lasts is rarely how closely they follow the moment, but their cultural grounding and the story they are able to tell.

Whether collaborating with historic houses or emerging names, our method remains strictly concept-driven. Research and words hold as much weight in our process as the image itself: the point where a thought and an intention finally meet. Over the years, our practice has grown from precision still-life photography into live-action filmmaking, tabletop direction, and complete narrative world-building.

To get there, we move freely across mediums, combining camera work with traditional retouching, digital compositing, 3D, and generative tools. Sometimes we invent our own methods, sometimes we rely on established workflows. Either way, we follow a production from the first intuition to the final frame, whether making the images ourselves or directing the people who make them with us.The result is a sensitive, sensory approach to the image, so that it is not only seen, but felt.

We provide full-service image creation, from initial concept and on-set direction to final post-production.

Creative & Art Direction

- Ideation and project development
- Campaign direction & narrative
- Visual identity and image consulting
- Brand storytelling and world-building
- Visual audits and creative advisory
- Research and creative strategy

Film & Photography Direction

- Live-action and commercial film direction
- Tabletop and still-life direction
- Advertising and editorial photography
- Lighting direction and cinematography
- Scenography, set design & styling
- Creative production supervision & advisory
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Post-Production & Hybrid Image-Making

- Photography retouching
- AI photography enhancement
- Digital compositing and 3D
- Generative AI workflows
- Film editing & colour grading
- Quality control and mastering‍‍