My interest in design started before I can even remember. My mother and her business partner ran a home furnishings store with an interior design practice, and I spent afternoons, weekends, and school breaks at the shop, on job sites, and touring manufacturers. I grew up around people deciding how things should be made.

I graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in May 2024 with a degree in Environmental Product Design. The program emphasized user-centered design, product development, and what it takes to bring something to market, alongside hands-on modeling, woodworking, and sewing.

I studied abroad twice. In Northern Italy, I spent time touring the work of Andrea Palladio and Carlo Scarpa. In Copenhagen, I studied Danish furniture design with local designers, visited manufacturers and collections across Scandinavia, and built a flat-packed plywood rocking chair from what I learned.

Since graduating, I worked at Engstrom Wood Products in Rogers, MN. I started hanging doors and setting drawers, moved to the production team building cabinet boxes and face frames, then to installation, and after six months, was promoted to lead installer and specialty builder. I ran the CNC, took on complex solid-wood builds, and worked with our drafter on the custom vanity line, testing changes, building and testing them, and revising what didn't work.

Skills and Tools

Software

Adobe Photoshop · Illustrator · SketchUp · Rhino

Fabrication

CNC operation · Table Saw · Bandsaw · Router · Cabinet and Face-Frame Construction · Finish Carpentry · Installation

Materials

Hardwood · Plywood · Veneered Panel and MDF core · Textiles

Softgoods

Pattern Development · Sewing

Design

User-Centered Design · Design for Manufacture · Prototyping and Testing · Flat-Pack and Knockdown Construction