Bio
A Pacific Northwest native, I grew up on an island outside of Seattle, Washington. As a child I took early to drawing, reading, and days in the dense woods that shouldered the family house. After high school I moved to Seattle directionless, working as a barista and briefly searching for an apprenticeship as a tattoo artist. After seeing the personal life of a celebrated local tattoo artist decay, smothered under work, I made a conscious decision to abandon art in favor of a practical, stable career path. I attended a community college and transferred to the University of Washington, drifting from major to major before settling in Communications and minoring in French.
In 2016, after a semester studying in France, I travelled extensively through Western Europe. There, as cliché dictates, my artistic drive was reignited. France, Italy, and Germany were my first exposure to fashions and style that inspired me, having lived life under the zealously casual blanket of the Pacific Northwest.
Returning to Seattle to finish my degree, I bought a sewing machine and began to sketch menswear. Following graduation, I moved to Hanoi, Vietnam, intending to work light hours as an ESL teacher and spend the rest of my time independently learning to design, draft, and sew. While in Hanoi I applied to the Menswear Design Program at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. At FIT I was Vice President of the Menswear Club and graduated magna cum laude. I have interned at Deveaux, POLITANO NY, and Tiefenbrun.
Drawn to fabric and craft, I strive to make clothing that flexes rigid menswear convention - hoping to offer a languid, nouveau elegance and sense of dignified creative expression to the wearer.
Skills
Proficient in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
Strong sketch artist and illustrator
Detailed knowledge of menswear construction methods
Adept at patternmaking and sewing
C1 level French speaker
Awards
First Place: Menswear Design, Joe’s Blackbook Scholarship 2020