Photo by Aiony Haust on Unsplash
Sofia Petrov
Illustrator & Artist
Sofia Petrov is a multidisciplinary illustrator whose work spans editorial illustration, hand lettering, and large-scale murals across Brooklyn and beyond. Her style blends Eastern European folk art influences with a contemporary graphic sensibility, creating imagery that is at once familiar and surprising. She brings a handmade warmth to the studio's output that no algorithm could replicate.
About Sofia
Sofia Petrov grew up in a small town outside of Sofia, Bulgaria, in a household where making things by hand was simply how life worked. Her grandmother embroidered, her mother painted icons for the local church, and Sofia drew constantly — on paper, on walls, on the margins of every schoolbook she owned. When her family moved to New York during her teenage years, she carried that handmade ethos into the city's visual chaos and found it sharpened rather than softened.
She studied Illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she developed her signature style: bold outlines, rich textures, and a color palette that nods to Slavic folk traditions while feeling utterly modern. After graduating, she built a freelance practice illustrating for editorial clients including The New York Times, Bon Appetit, and The Atlantic. Her hand-lettering work for a series of Brooklyn restaurant murals earned her a following on Instagram and led directly to her introduction to the Fireflies Collective team.
At the studio, Sofia adds a layer of human touch that grounds the team's digital and strategic work. She creates custom illustrations for brand identities, editorial layouts, packaging, and environmental graphics. Her mural projects have become a beloved part of the studio's portfolio, transforming blank walls in Bushwick, Red Hook, and Greenpoint into vibrant neighborhood landmarks.
Sofia's creative fuel comes from walking the city with a sketchbook, documenting hand-painted shop signs, weathered brick textures, and the faces of strangers on the subway. She believes the most honest design work carries the trace of the human hand, and she is committed to keeping that spirit alive in everything she makes.
