“A Day in the Life” with writer and designer Heidi Sopinka

Heidi Sopinka is a novelist who lives in Toronto.

In 2012, she co-founded Horses Atelier, a clothing line that is sold in New York, LA, Japan and Toronto. Her article for The Believer is one of the last interviews conducted with the last of the surrealists, Leonora Carrington.

She has also worked in the Yukon as a bush cook, and as a travel writer in Singapore, and trained as a helicopter pilot in Texas. She is widely published as a journalist in Canada, where she has won a national magazine award and was The Globe and Mail’s environment columnist. Heidi Sopinka’s debut novel, The Dictionary of Animal Languages, will be published this year in Canada, the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Poland. She is working on her second novel.

Written by husband, Jason Logan

Up north at my parents’ farm where I go with my family as much as I can so we can fall asleep to the sound of the river.
Up north at my parents’ farm where I go with my family as much as I can so we
can fall asleep to the sound of the river.
A picnic with my partner and three kids at Etienne Brule (they are always in motion so only my daughter got in the frame).
A picnic with my partner and three kids at Etienne Brule (they are always in
motion so only my daughter got in the frame).
Writing up at my friend Claire’s cabin in the woods. I think writing a novel is not a mystery, it’s about time spent in a chair. You drop out. You consume very little. You need silences.
Writing up at my friend Claire’s cabin in the woods. I think writing a novel is not a
mystery, it’s about time spent in a chair. You drop out. You consume very little.
You need silences.
In Roma, Mexico City, where I researched my novel (photo taken by Natalie Matutschovsky).
In Roma, Mexico City, where I researched my novel (photo taken by Natalie
Matutschovsky).
Claudia and me (far right) caught styling at a Horses photo shoot by Arden Wray.
Claudia and me (far right) caught styling at a Horses photo shoot by Arden
Wray.
In front of the Horses moodboard, photo taken by Arden Wray.
In front of the Horses moodboard, photo taken by Arden Wray.
Hanging hand-washed silk habotai to air-dry in Claudia’s backyard. We love an old-world attention to detail; French seams, washed silk, hand-stitched hems.
Hanging hand-washed silk habotai to air-dry in Claudia’s backyard. We love an
old-world attention to detail; French seams, washed silk, hand-stitched hems.
Here I am lugging a garment bag in New York’s lower east side. When Horses was started with my close friend Claudia Dey, we did virtually everything ourselves, including unglamorously schlepping clothing on our backs from boutique to boutique.
Here I am lugging a garment bag in New York’s lower east side. When Horses
was started with my close friend Claudia Dey, we did virtually everything
ourselves, including unglamorously schlepping clothing on our backs from
boutique to boutique.

What ‘hood are you in?

On the same small street as a chocolate factory in Little Portugal.

What do you do?

I am a novelist, and co-designer and co-founder of Horses Atelier.

What are you currently working on?

At the Horses studio, we are finishing our spring collection and dreaming up what we
want to make for fall.

With my writing, my novel has a long and strange origin. I wrote part of it in caves I found below the house I was renting in France. Later I travelled to Mexico City with two friends to interview the last surrealist. I then wrote steadily in my attic for three years. I ended up putting the book in a drawer for another three. The Dictionary of Animal Languages is finally coming out with Penguin Random House on February 20 th .

Where can we find your work?

Writing:

heidisopinka.com
@heidisopinka (instagram)

Clothing design:

horsesatelier.com @horsesatelier (instagram) / retail shop at 198 Walnut Avenue just
south of Trinity Bellwoods Park

 

 

About Joel Levy 2623 Articles
Editor-In-Chief at Toronto Guardian. Photographer and Writer for Toronto Guardian and Joel Levy Photography