The Team
Hope Velocette
Founder & Principal Designer
Hope started her design career in reverse. She was on her own with no money at 18 and had to get straight to work. Her love for style, culture, and fashion landed her in retail where she quickly discovered she was a creative leader capable of growing businesses.
By the time she was in her early 20’s, Urban Outfitters, who had just launched their expansion campaign, promoted Hope to the head of visuals for new store openings where she hired, trained, and managed large creative teams who would build out 80 stores over 4 years.
During that period Hope discovered she was doing the job of an interior design director and wanted to get a formal education to match her skill. Over the next four years Hope attended Philadelphia’s Moore College where she earned her BA in Interior Design while remaining at her job full-time. The years at Moore gave her the training to envision, and build Urban’s first in-house interiors team, who would set the bar for the company’s design-build, fixture design, and new concept teams.
After 15 years with the company, Hope realized she had been building the company she always wanted for herself, for others. It was time to take off the training wheels and jump into the unknown, and in 2015 she did.
Velocette is now in the 11th year of designing some of Philadelphia’s favorite, trend setting, places including Wilder Restaurant, Oyster House, and Mission Taqueria. The Studio’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Elle Decor, Yellow Trace and Philadelphia Magazine but Hope is still most excited for what is to come next. With a sincere love and drive to create, she pushes forward into the great unknown, intent on making the world prettier, one place at a time.
If you see Hope outside of the studio, she will most likely be daydreaming as she walks the streets of West Philadelphia and trails of the Wissahickon alongside her two Catahoula pups or hanging out in center city with her family and friends.
Eliot May
Senior Designer
Eliot graduated from Philadelphia University with his BA in architecture in 2008. Before officially joining Velocette in 2026, Eliot spent 14 years as a creative force within Free People’s store design team where he focused heavily on fixture design. Just before starting his new role with Velocette, Eliot designed one of Philadelphia’s most beloved record stores, ECHO ECHO, on East Passyunk.
Founder, Hope Velocette met Eliot in 2010 during her previous career and she knew that although he was trained as an architect, Eliot had the heart of an artist. This made him the perfect fit for Velocette’s senior design role where he now brings his eye for detail and a steadfast hand to the Studio’s process.
When Eliot isn’t drawing the Studio’s vision into pure magic, you can find him swinging a hammer on one of his personal home remodels, biking through the city, or listening to an eclectic mix of records.
Arthur Velocette
Design Build Consultant
Arthur was brought up in the contracting world wiring houses for his father who owned his own electrical contracting business. In his 20’s he left electrical work for fashion and design school then landed a job at the Urban Outfitters headquarters in Philadelphia where he has headed up men’s visuals and styling for all the brick-and-mortar locations for over 20 years. In 2021, Arthur founded Boardy Cakes Wheel Co. a trend setting brand that reintroduced tiny 90’s wheels back into the skateboarding scene.
This incredibly diverse background has made Arthur an invaluable asset to Velocette Studio. He brings a masculine eye to the work and supports everything from project management and installation to marketing and concept development.
In his spare time, you can find Arthur skateboarding Philly’s best spots, sipping tea at his favorite restaurant Dandelion, or washing and folding laundry…yep, this guy is laundry obsessed.