Kandi Stirman

Kandi Stirman is a Miami-based artist and entrepreneur whose life and work are deeply intertwined with rope, craftsmanship, and South Florida culture. Born in Long Beach, New York, she moved to Miami Beach as a young child, where she was raised and developed her lifelong creative spirit.

 

Her father, a retired member of the United States Coast Guard, had a passion for rope and later entered the rope and cordage business. Inspired by both the materials and the environment around her, Kandi learned macramé as a teenager and began working in the family business while studying fine arts at Miami Dade Community College and the University of Miami.

 

During the 1970s, Kandi played a major role in shaping the craft division for Miami Cordage and later Ludlow Corporation, helping develop the bold Pantone-inspired colors that defined the era. She eventually returned to Miami Cordage, where she and her husband, visionary entrepreneur Rollin Stirman, transformed the wholesale company into a full-scale rope and wire rope manufacturing business.

 

In 2016, Kandi launched her professional art career, joining her niece Sara Kaplan at her Little Haiti studio. Their studio was featured on the Art Basel studio tour, where Kandi debuted five large-scale rope sculptures. Her breakout moment came when the owner of the Marseilles Hotel commissioned a dramatic installation for the hotel’s 100-foot lobby wall. The piece became a signature landmark and sparked a steady stream of commissions through word of mouth.

 

Since then, Kandi has created monumental rope sculptures for Suviche Restaurants, The Wharf Miami, The Wharf Fort Lauderdale, Regatta Grove, Windstar Cruise Lines, and numerous private residences. Today, her work can be seen in public spaces throughout Miami-Dade and Broward County, celebrating texture, movement, and the enduring beauty of rope as an artistic medium.