7 Questions for Fashion Designer and Artist Elke Reva Sudin

Elke Reva Sudin is a Brooklyn-based visual artist and entrepreneur who has gained recognition in international media for her work, including her painting series Hipsters and Hassids and her international event drawing company, Drawing Booth. She was also named a 2024 Industry Innovator by Bizbash. Recently, Elke launched a fashion company ELKE NYC, which was featured during the 2024 New York Fashion Week. JWA sat down with Sudin to discuss her impressive artistic and entrepreneurial pursuits.

Emma Breitman: How did your artistic practice begin, and how has it evolved over the years?

Elke Reva Sudin: When I was young, I didn’t have many creative outlets or much formal education in art, so I had to seek it out on my own. The creative gene definitely skipped a generation, and my art school-trained bubbie didn’t live long enough for me to learn about her experience. 

At the start of high school, I had two friends who gave me a sense of direction. One declared she was going to grow up to be an illustrator, and I remember thinking, “You can do that??” That experience became a turning point. I kept drawing from life, and over time, people became my most engaging and enduring subject.

My creative exploration also showed up in how I dressed and expressed myself. Coming from a strict Chabad school environment, I went through phases that mirrored where I was emotionally. There was a goth period that felt like rebellion, followed by a pop punk phase when I was in a less rigid setting, and eventually a kind of earthy, hippie grunge aesthetic that felt like it fit me best. These styles were how I processed and performed my inner world before I had the tools to make real, lasting creative work. 

After studying illustration as a formal discipline in college at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, I began to see how drawing could speak to deeper questions. One of my earliest large-scale projects, Hipsters & Hassids, was a painted portraiture and urban landscape series capturing moments of contrast and connection between these two communities in Brooklyn. It was a way of exploring Jewish identity through culture, style, and the subtle gestures of daily life. Not to flatten or satirize, but to humanize, and it reflected where I was, standing in the middle of communities that did not understand each other and were seemingly diametrically opposed, but who represented the extreme versions of my own identity. I was able to reflect on what was going on in an honest way while also finding a way to tell the story of who I was at a pivotal moment in my generation’s cultural development.

Later, I created a portrait series that reimagined biblical patriarchs and matriarchs in contemporary Jewish people today. From there, my practice continued to expand. I founded Drawing Booth, a live illustration company that brings portraiture to events with mingling mobile artists for a sophisticated digital upgrade on a classic portraiture event experience. I also began exploring wearable art. I designed a line of illuminated headscarves that reflect symbolic ideas through light-reactive materials. At the same time, I returned to the small scale. I began making enamel pins under the label Pnimi Pins, focusing on sacred symbols and modern interpretations that people can use to give subtle signaling of their identity to other members of the tribe. 

EB: Your 2010 project, Hipsters & Hasids, juxtaposes those two communities to point out their similarities. What inspired this project, and what did your artistic process look like?

ERS: Hipsters & Hasids grew out of my own neighborhood and the tension I saw—and felt—living just south of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. At the time, there were two visibly distinct communities living side by side: the creative young newcomers and the long-established Hasidic community. The media often portrayed them as opposites, but what I experienced walking those streets was much more layered.

Both groups were deeply community-oriented. Both had specific uniforms of identity. Both were searching, in their own ways, for meaning, belonging, and authenticity. The similarities were quiet, but striking. I felt a pull to document what I was seeing, not as commentary, but as observation.

The series began as painted portraits drawn from daily life. I walked the neighborhood, took photos, and sketched from memory. I was never interested in satire or critique. I wanted to humanize both sides and reveal the shared humanity beneath the surface. In many ways, it was also a way of reconciling my own identities — the observant Jew, the artist, the Brooklynite.

Hipsters & Hasids became a visual conversation about perception, identity, and the spaces between communities that rarely interact but have far more in common than they realize.

EB: You also recently launched Elke NYC, a modest fashion brand. What impact do you hope this company will have on the Jewish community?

ERS: Elke NYC is where I’ve brought both my headscarves and modular apparel under one label. The scarves came first—they were born from my own practice of covering my hair with intention and wanting to wear something that reflected spiritual ideas through material form. Over time, I began designing pieces that felt like wearable art. They became visual reminders of balance, presence, and inner meaning, made to move with the person wearing them.

From there, Elke NYC grew into a modular apparel line. I wanted clothing that could keep up with the kind of life I was living—expressive, elegant, and rooted, but also adaptable and functional. The apparel blends modest silhouettes with influences from urban outerwear and technical travel gear. Each piece is designed to support movement and meaning at once.

EB: What’s next for you and your work in 2026?

For the Jewish community, I hope Elke NYC expands the visual language of what modest fashion can be. These are pieces for women who want to live with depth and purpose, while also engaging fully in the world around them.

More broadly, I hope it helps people feel a sense of pride and self-expression. Modesty is often misunderstood as limiting, but for me, it has always been a conscious and creative choice. If Elke NYC helps even a few people feel more grounded in who they are—spiritually, aesthetically, and practically—then it is doing its job.

ERS: In 2026, I’m integrating instrumental music and curated scent into work that supports sacred space and intentional presence at home. Feeding that work, I’ll be traveling to India with my daughter, engaging with the culture and its long Jewish history. I’m also continuing to develop Drawing Booth following its acceptance into Los Angeles Tourism’s EmpowerLA Program.