About

I'm a brand and design professional working across strategy, material, and place. My background spans floral and event design, landscape architecture, luxury textile design, and the visual arts — disciplines that have given me a close, practical understanding of how things get made, and an eye for the materials, craftsmanship, and quieter details that make a product, brand, or place feel considered.

Over time, my focus has moved from producing individual pieces toward the systems and stories that hold them together — how a material gets chosen, how an idea moves from a designer to a maker, how a visual identity communicates what something is actually worth. Today, I develop brand strategy and visual systems for organizations and companies where material knowledge and creative direction matter as much as the identity itself. I'm especially drawn to design-led work in architectural materials, luxury goods, hospitality, and the built environment — spaces where craftsmanship and brand are inseparable.

Experience

FREELANCE (select projects)

Brand & Visual Design Consultant
Freelance
2025 — Present

  • Leading brand strategy and authoring a full guideline set for the Omaha Sister Cities Association, a 60-year-old civic nonprofit, building a flexible visual system from the organization's existing identity.

  • Designing a modular graphic system and city pictograms extending OSCA's brand across print, digital, and event applications.

MERIDA

Textile Designer & Brand Collaborator
2021 — 2024

  • Designed limited-edition textile collections and led a commissioned rug project for a French heritage luxury maison in collaboration with a premier Parisian interior architecture firm, overseeing concept development, material direction, and production.

  • Co-created a modular folio and inventory system that changed how collections were presented to clients and galleries, shown at Art Basel Miami, Design Miami, and Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

  • Organized and cataloged the studio's material sample library, creating a system for tracking and retrieving yarns, colorways, and constructions across the full collection archive.

REED HILDERBRAND

Landscape Architectural Designer
2018 — 2021

  • Contributed to early design development for Amanyara Villas, a luxury resort in Turks and Caicos, researching materials and sourcing furnishing and fabrication vendors, including custom planters, coordinating pricing and availability.

  • Developed spatial systems and material research for large-scale cultural and institutional projects, including work for Yale University, MIT, and Harvard Business School.

  • Produced client-facing visual communication — renderings, diagrams, and design studies — that translated design intent for stakeholders.

Selected Works


(Real-world and conceptual projects demonstrating brand strategy, material development, and identity systems. Conceptual work is noted.)

Merida Studio — Real-World Textile Design & Brand Presentation

Textile Design · Material Development · Art Direction · Brand Presentation

  • Designed limited-edition textile collections shown in gallery and exhibition contexts including Miami Basel, Design Miami, and Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

  • Co-developed a modular folio and inventory system to present collections consistently across client presentations, exhibitions, and art fairs.

Amanyara Villas — Real-World Landscape Architecture & Material Sourcing

Landscape Design · Material Research · Sourcing · Experience Design

  • Contributed to early design development for a luxury resort landscape in Turks & Caicos, working across planting research, circulation studies, and client presentation.

  • Researched and sourced furnishing and fabrication vendors, including custom planters, coordinating availability, pricing, and shipping for key landscape moments.

Omaha Sister Cities Association — Real-World Brand Strategy & Guidelines

Brand Strategy · Visual Identity · Graphic System Design · Brand Guidelines

  • Led brand strategy and authored a full guideline set for a 60-year-old civic nonprofit, building a flexible visual system from the organization's existing logomark.

  • Designed a modular tile system and nine city pictograms bridging the organization's international standing with local, community-facing recognition.

Minoa Sanare — Conceptual Hospitality Brand

Brand Strategy · Visual Identity · Experience Design · Editorial Design

  • Developed a brand system integrating identity, material language, and guest experience into a cohesive spatial narrative for a Mediterranean wellness retreat.

  • Translated Cretan landscapes and rituals into a contemporary hospitality concept grounded in place, pacing, and sensory engagement.

Additional conceptual work — including brand identity, e-commerce, and material-driven design projects — available in full portfolio.

Skills

Direction & Design

Brand Strategy · Brand Identity · Art Direction · Editorial & Experience Design

Digital Tools

Figma · Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, After Effects)

Material & Craft

Textile Design · Material Development · Photography · Illustration · Printmaking · Event Florals · Hands-on Fabrication

Spatial & Visualization

Rhino · SketchUp · AutoCAD · Vectorworks · CorelDRAW

Systems & Collaboration

Brand Guidelines Development · Materials Management & Sample Library Systems · Design Systems & Asset Libraries · Project Documentation & Guidelines · Workshop Facilitation · Notion

Education

University of Pennsylvania, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, MLA Landscape Architecture, 2015 -2018

UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design, Post-Baccalaureate [In]Land Program, 2014

Wesleyan University, BA Art History; Visual Art (honors), 2010-2013

SVA, Shanghai Photography Residency, 2010

Bowdoin College, Coursework in Art History & Film, 2009-2010

Mentorship Highlights

Anuradha Mathur (UPenn MLA): Guided holistic design thinking, spatial storytelling, strategies for organizing complex systems; shaped approach to world-making and conceptual brand worlds.

Kate Ten Eyck (Wesleyan): Cultivated creative confidence and curiosity in personal art practice; enhanced iteration and problem-solving skills and taught how to polish and present work for gallery and exhibition settings.

Joseph Siry (Wesleyan): Mentored art history & architecture coursework and studio thesis development; refined critical thinking and writing skills.

Abby Robinson (SVA): Strengthened photographic eye, visual composition, and narrative skills foundation to editorial and design work.

Tricia Welsh (Bowdoin): Introduced film and visual storytelling; built editorial and narrative skills through photography and student newspaper work

Additional Information

  • Languages: English (fluent), Japanese (fluent), Spanish (basic)

  • Interests, Context: Material culture, craftsmanship, design history, jewelry-making, personal studio art practice

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