Sara Shaughnessy

Sara is a polymath who is driven to learn new skills at every opportunity.

Growing up, she dedicated thousands of hours outside of school to the study and practice of art, particularly watercolor and acrylic painting. She shifted focus in college, simultaneously earning a BA in Biology and a BS in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.

She arrived at Stanford for grad school with an NSF grant and a plan to pursue smart products, biomechanics, and MEMS. True to form, she managed to squeeze in an elective course in metalworking — in the very lab where Mandy worked.

Sara's adventurous, entrepreneurial nature helped spark the creation of RedStart Design, and her affinity for new ideas and techniques compliments RedStart's unique niche of designing from scratch with their clients.

Aesthetically, Sara is drawn to pattern, precision, and ordered complexity. She starts with sketches but quickly takes the process digital to create designs with flawless curves and exact angles. Perhaps informed by her earlier nano-scale work, she finds deep satisfaction in "making tiny things perfect."

On weekends, you can find Sara hiking with her boyfriend somewhere with a great view.

The most important thing to know about Sara, according to Mandy:

"She will make sure every single aspect of the design has been considered meticulously and excuted perfectly. Don't even worry about a thing."

Amanda Knox Sather

Mandy is a Midwest native and second-generation artist. After earning two degrees from Stanford (a BA in Art History and an MA in Religious Studies) and a period of designing jewelry and teaching metalworking in Florence, Italy, Mandy returned to Stanford for a Design MFA that would allow her to pursue her growing love of teaching.

She always envisioned for herself the life of the lone creative — until she met her cofounders.

Now, Mandy and Sara see their collaborative relationship as an important reason they're able to work so well with their clients. They approach the work without ego from a problem-solving perspective and use a dialog of back-and-forth critique to arrive at the perfect solution and fine-tune the design. This practice primes them to thrive on the same kind of feedback and energy from clients.

As a designer, Mandy is intuitive and fluid. She sketches and carves by hand, relying on her eye and instinct. Her techniques create pieces that are sculptural and flowing, and which often have gentle variations and unexpected turns that infuse the metal and stones with life.

On weekends, you can find Mandy hanging out with her husband and kids in the Sunset.

The most important thing to know about Mandy, according to Sara:

"She's so good at engaging people and helping them articulate what they really want so that the design we come up with is one they truly see themselves in. Also, sometimes she dances around the workshop."