Where are you from? I am a Boulder, CO mountain girl at heart, but I lived in a small town in Illinois for a few years during my formative years where, like Joe, I learned to appreciate the taste of Midwestern cuisine (meatloaf, corn, frozen peas, Jell-O with marshmallows, etc.). I also lived in Saudi Arabia and Alaska shortly after I was born, but I don’t really remember either spot so I guess they don’t count.

Where do you live now? I have been a bit of a nomad during my 9 years in Nor Cal. Currently I have nestled myself into a corner in Oakland and love it but I have to continue my nomadic ways…as of next week I’ll be moving into a loft space in Emeryville. Expect lots of photos oh-so-soon!

How did you get interested in design? I have always had a passion for crafts, design, and art in general. As a child I would make intricate dioramas for book projects and they would typically be scenes in a home (and no, my parents didn’t make my school projects for me). In college one of my majors was in art with a focus on mixed media painting. I took a couple photography classes and while other students did their final projects taking pictures of people or landscapes, I was off photographing chairs.

What’s your favorite DP product and why? I have major love for the Blu Dot Nick Table. The character of the woodgrain and the rounded edges make me melt. Some may call me a “DP addict” since I have a slew of items on my wishlist. My fist DP purchase ever was the Matteo Due Stitch Duvet in brine and I looooove it.

If you weren’t doing this what would you do? Probably sit at home and eat beef sandwiches while watching daytime TV…kidding. Actually, I’d most likely try to pursue creating my own line of items. Although, this would require some start up, and that means saving some money, and that would require finding a job. I then would probably resort to finding any job off Craigslist and then get stuck working in a cubicle for 20 years.

What do you do in your spare time? I don’t really have a lot of spare time. My side gig is as a second photographer for Cooper Carras Photography which requires working weekends shooting and editing photos. We do a lot of destination wedding photography so we have to do a good amount of traveling. Luckily, traveling is my thing so I can’t complain. If only there were 10 days to each week…

What do you like most about our Design Public? Why do you work here? The office cactus named Kelly Clarkson.

Who was your favorite member of the A-Team?
Although I am pretty quiet, a little on the scrawny side and a really fair-skinned gal, I would have to say I am a lot like B.A. Baracus at heart. I idolize Mr. T.

Where are you from? Nebraska! The great land of beef, corn, and Football – with a capital F.

Where do you live now? Last year I moved from a fabulous sprawling penthouse in Oakland to an equally lovely shoebox in SF. It’s all about location, baby!

How did you get interested in design? I worked at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for years and found myself attending as many architecture and design lectures I could get into. It is fascinating for me to learn about the process a designer goes through in order to realize their ideas. It is also interesting for me to see how people can interpret the same object in so many different ways. I think that’s where the line often blurs between art and function.

What’s your favorite DP product and why? Love my Area Jewel duvet and Area Theo coverlet. I always tell people its my ‘fancy’ bedding.

What do you like most about our company? I mostly work here for the free food. People say we have a great team and that we are doing something different and exciting in retail. That’s all great, but its mostly the food that keeps me here.

If you weren’t doing this what would you do? Sushi chef or Zen gardener. Same art, different mediums. (p.s. the rock garden to the left was Joe’s former desk creation. I hear that soon he has plans to spell his name with the rocks…I’ll keep you updated).

What do you do in your spare time? I used to call myself a marathoner, but lately have been spending a lot more time in the kitchen than on the trails.

Favorite member of the A-Team? Definitely MacGyver.

Thanks, Joe!

Where are you from? Clearwater, FL

Where do you live now? San Francisco, CA

How did you get interested in design? I started cutting up clothes and sewing them, painting, doing ceramics, changing the way I “decorated” my rooms and other creative shenanigans when I was younger and throughout growing up. As I got older, I discovered new arenas of more sophisticated design regarding furniture and sustainable art, how loose the term “design” is, and how the kiddie painting and grown-up furniture design can work together… Did that make sense?

What’s your favorite DP product and why? umm… I don’t have a favorite, but I really love jefdesigns pieces, and I really need the Area Bruno Bed and some Graham & Brown Mode Enchant Wallpaper, please.

If you weren’t doing this what would you do? Probably be miserable while attending grad school.

What do you do in your spare time? I used to play drums, so hopefully that will happen again soon. I play records sometimes, listen to lots of metal, indulge in adventurous, fancy cooking as much as possible, and bike rides.

What do you like most about our company? Why do you work here? I like the relaxed “vibe” (for lack of a better, less hippy-sounding word), and how comfortable our work place is… Like a fam! That’s why I work here… and I love that I can have writing projects to keep the workload versatile.

Favorite member of the A-Team? Hannibal – I liked his creepy leather gloves and cigar.

Thanks, Kerstin!

P.S. The photo above of a little girl with pig tails is Kerstin as a wee one. Grade A material for a children’s book, I’d say.

“The adventures of two women and one man
working together in one department.”

Since quality customer service is so important to us, these guys are very important to us. Luckily, we’ve got a great tight group with amazing karate chopping (aka customer service) skills.

We’ve shared a number of staff profiles in the past but there has been a major lapse in updating our team info. Now’s as good a time as any to get this going again and who better to start with than the Three’s Company (i.e. customer service) team. First up: Melissa!

Where are you from? Where do you live now? I am from the East Bay. I lived there forever until I decided to make a very ambitious trek across the bridge to San Francisco where I live now.

How did you get interested in design? I used to think design was frivolous and elitist and just didn’t think much about it until I interned for a magazine that featured new design products. I also had some friends that went to CCA for Design and that got me interested in the art. Now I see that design is an essential part of life because everything man made has to be designed by someone. Mostly, I admire the possibilities of combining art and functionality.

What’s your favorite DP product and why? I really like Thomas Paul’s Retro-looking Imperial Horse Linen Pillow and Apollo Head series. He has a definite sensibility for Retro-Victorian (don’t know if that’s an actual style, but in my book it counts).

What do you like most about our company? Why do you work here? I work here mostly because the staff is great. I love my co-workers and although the work here can be challenging I like the challenge. I like that we’re free-form and that there are many possibilities here if you make them happen. Also, I enjoy learning about design because you learn a great deal about people and lifestyle.

If you weren’t doing this what would you do? Probably Live in New York and write music reviews and starve.

What do you do in your spare time? I sing and play music.

Favorite member of the A-Team? The Oakland A’s? ha ha, don’t really know of the A-Team, I only know of Mister T and don’t think I quite get it, but I do like his fashion sense.

Thanks, Melissa!

2.  How’d you get interested in design? I’ve been a tinkerer, doodler, and amateur inventor since I can first remember.  I’ve always enjoyed art, building things, and working on crafts and in the shop.  I love coming up with new ideas and seeing if I can turn them into something real.  In school I studied engineering, and to me, design is the perfect combination of the aesthetic and emotional joys of art with the problem-solving challenges of engineering.

3.  What’s your favorite Design Public product and why? These days I have my eye on the Squat Benches by Vessel.  We have a small house, and we could use both more storage and seating – but we don’t have room for both. These are great multifunctional pieces that can do double duty depending on what we need them for.

4. What do you like most about our company?  Why do you work here (besides the fact that you are the co-founder)? Our people are awesome. They are passionate, imaginative, fun to be around, and great at what they do. Why I work here: We’re free to be as innovative as we can be – in all parts of our business. We’re constantly trying new things and brainstorming ways to improve on what we’re doing, so it’s a very energetic and fun environment that allows me to be creative and do something different every day.  Plus it’s just a fun industry: the designers, our customers, the parties.

5.  If you weren’t doing this what would you do? I’ve always toyed with being a full-time artist, but I’m pretty enticed by the career of mad scientist / inventor – working alone in the basement, letting my personal hygiene slip, talking to myself.  And, like George Costanza, I was always wanted to pretend to be an architect.

6.   What do you do in your spare time? I try to fit in art when I can: painting and drawing, going to galleries and museums. I love enjoying all of the amazing outdoor opportunities available here in Northern CA.  I have some of the best cycling, hiking, and trail running right outside my front door.  I go backpacking up in the mountains.  I’m big into cooking. These days I also spend a lot of time writing software, a newfound hobby of mine.

7.  Favorite member of the A-Team? Capt. Murdock.  He was the only one who truly understood me.

Sorry to tell you this, but Sina recently tied the knot and is off the market.  If you’d like to buy him a gift even though he didn’t invite you, here’s his Wish List!

Where are you from?
Born in Jersey, raised in Cincinnati, spent my late teens and all of my 20’s in Charlottesville Virginia.   I lived in Boston here and there but I don’t belong there, so I never say I’m "from" there.  Oh yeah, there were also a few fun stints in Valencia Spain and Venice.

 
Where do you live now?
The A.T.L.  A-Town.  Atlanta.  (Never say "Hotlanta" – no one here does and it gets on our writer Jeff’s nerves big time).  The best thing about Atlanta is that sometimes Lil’ Jon is on your flight on the way home from Vegas.  That was my best celebrity sighting ever!

 
How did you get interested in design?
I got serious about it after attending a summer program for people interested in checking out Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Harvard.  It’s called Career Discovery .  I highly recommend it if you are on the fence – it really shows you what architecture will be like, and you get to hear a lot of great speakers.  Martha Schwartz’s lecture is what turned me onto landscape architecture.  I then got my Masters Degree in Landscape Architecture and worked in town planning during the summers. If you’ve never been to a Hingham Planning Board Meeting, I highly recommend it.  It’s more entertaining than anything on TV (besides "Arrested Development" and Larry David).

What’s your favorite DP product and why?

I love the trays from Bent Ply Serving Trays from Urbana Design .  They are made from something kind of rough and scratchy (woven fabric),  and hard and flat (plywood), yet the final product is glossy, sleek, curved and smooth (resin/bent plywood).  I appreciate when designers play with materials like that and the final result is unexpected.  Your eyes go right to it, because it is gorgeous, but then you look more closely at the materials and it trips you out. 

I am also really excited about the Angela Adams purses we will be carrying and I hope that Drew will get me a big discount.

 
What do you like most about our company?  Why do you work here?

Because it is really fun and doesn’t feel like a chore or a job-job.  I also like that when we put a bowling league team together we can call ourselves the peeps and get funny shirts.

AGAIN, I am also really excited about the  Angela Adams purses we carry and I hope that Drew will get me  a big discount.

 If you weren’t doing this what would you do?

 Follow some band around on tour.  Pester Drew to try and get me a big discount on Angela Adams purses.

 
What do you do in your spare time?

Watch way too much TV, play way too much Megatouch (i.e. the video crackbox), drink too much orange vodka, buy way too many shoes and bags and attend Heavy Metal Karaoke Night with the live back up band.

 
Favorite member of the A-Team?

Hannibal.  "I love it when a plan comes together."   Wasn’t George Peppard in "Breakfast at Tiffany’s?"  He was so dandy and dapper but in his own rebellious way. I mean, that’s a really cool career arc – from acting alongside Audrey Hepburn to acting alongside Mr. T. 

Turns out it was created by our very own Antoinette Celes (a.k.a. Antoi), right here at DP.  Antoi states:

"I started mounting styrofoam blocks on one of my walls to function as toy display and soundproofing. I first saw this idea by multi-talented designer/video director friend, Roy Miles, who mounted a few large styro blocks as wall art. my idea is to cover the wall, in it’s entirety. stay tuned….

art/toys: lego "metal hands" by bwana spoons top shelf, and pixelblocks below. 

So seeing Antoi’s flickr picture reminded me that i was supposed to blog the staff profiles here and there, and I totally forgot.  Antoi’s title is basically jack of all trades – she has more interests and talents than the rest of us combined (sorry guys, but it’s true), and without her, the place would likely fall apart. Now that you’ve been introduced to her creative shelving solutions, GET TO KNOW ANTOI!

(by the way, I have no idea why some of the text below looks like an e.e. cumming’s poem, but I kind of dig it and don’t feel like re-typing everything, so I’m leaving it). 

Where are you from?
Native Chamorro born on Guam – spent my young childhood in Hawaii and lived all over the US (Florida, California, Maine, Colorado) and spent my teens and part of my adulthood on Guam & Saipan (Marianas Islands in the Western Pacific)

Where do you live now?
San Francisco

How’d you get interested in design?
As a child. I was always drawing and making things (learned crochet & crafts as a kid). I had wonderful Xmases where my mother would have a mono or dual-color decorating theme. As a kid, I would sit in spaces and mentally redecorate them. I love thrifting and second hand shops, which have given me an appreciation for vintage design & handcrafted things. I’m currently into mixing folk, kitsch and stark modern.

What’s your favorite DP product and why?
I must confess, the Duoplane CD Shelves , by Pure Design (now produced by OFFI). I don’t even want these for CD’s. I have a fantasy of mounting them in my kitchen as my spicerack. They’d also look cool horizontally spanning my hallway wall, from one end to the other, displaying my toy collection. They’re rad — horizontal or vertical. AND they’re reasonably priced.

I also think the Bendant lamp by MIO Culture is ingenious and I have a crush on David Brunicardi’s Sande Wave & Mag Tables .

What do you like most about our company?  Why do you work here?
I was drawn to Design Public initially because of the approachable attitude towards modern design, and that customer service is held in high regard. This mirrored my own personal philosophy.

I love the folks I work with — nuff said. Everyone has a great sense of humor (which I hold in high regard), casual meetings are held in the park, we’re an intelligent, hard-working bunch and you guys allow me to get loopy under pressure.

if you weren’t doing this what would you do?
I’d focus on my illustration, make funky kids clothing, learn Micronesian handicrafts and study tattoo art in Asian & Pacific cultures.

What do you do in your spare time?
Well, I already do too many things — make handmade accessories, knit/crochet, do illustration & graphic design, remake clothing, run a couple of blogs, go thrifting on the weekends, cook, photograph events and people, check out galleries when I can, and explore cheap eats in the city. I’m always on the lookout for a party event with a deejay that knows how to get my groove on.

Favorite member of the A-Team?
Mr T, of course.

Um, I think that shoud be, "Mr. T, FOOL!"  Thanks Antoi!

We’ve got a bit of a lull in the holiday season here, so I thought it would be fun to take some time to introduce our team to you. I mean, you read this blog — who are these guys? And why should I read what they have to say about design? (Truth is, you should not under any circumstances.)

Let’s take Jeff, our copywriter, for starters. I mean, have you ever wondered about our web copy? Read this example for the Gus Design Group Steel Magazine Racks:

As well as being interesting and handy, the Stainless Steel Magazine Rack from Gus Design Group gives you a new way to store your magazines–by rank! You can put the fun, fluffy magazines at the bottom and the significant, responsible ones at the top; you can work your way up the ladder from People and Entertainment Weekly to the very heights of dwell and The Economist. Or, you know, the other way around. People has reporting in it too.

No, you aren’t in a Williams-Sonoma catalog anymore. Don’t see it? How about the description for the Plume Pillow from Eleventwentyfive or the Play-a-Round Table from Offi?

I love our copy. It’s a bit off the wall and fun, but so are we so it fits. The author of our web copy is Jeff. He lives in LA, and his is our first staff profile. Read it over and then check out Jeff’s Holiday Wishlist here.

Jeff, where are you from? Where do you live now?

I’m from all over the place. I was born in Alaska, and lived there on and off for about 7 years. I’ve lived in California for the past 11 years now, in L.A. for the past 6 or so.

How’d you get interested in design?

Well, I’ve loved Fallingwater since the first time I ever saw a picture of it. I know it’s utterly impractical (and extraordinarily improbable), but I like to think of it as my future house. It’ll never happen, but it’s a dream. Then, about five and a half years ago, probably, I saw a Frank Lloyd Wright book in the bargain section at Barnes & Noble, and all the pictures I saw just felt *right.* Like, there was something in the designs–furniture, art glass, architecture, the works–that I recognized as something in me, even though I hadn’t seen any of those photos before.

What’s your favorite Design Public product and why?

I love the Blu Dot Chicago 8-Box Shelf. I’m a book person, so that’s a big plus in favor of the piece anyway, but I also think it’s just so very classy. I think it’s the rhythm that draws me to it most–the alternating positive and negative space, but it’s still all shelves! I love it. If I had a second pick, it’d be an Erich Ginder product, either the Ghost Antler Coat Rack or the Mansion Chandelier. They’re so bold and intelligent; to me, they obviously have some kind of programmatic background, there’s plainly some *reason* they look the way they do.

Umm . . . why do you work here?

I love the attitude at Design Public. I don’t like big corporations, and Design Public–the people who are Design Public–doesn’t act like one. Everyone’s really friendly and fun. It doesn’t seem as much like work as it does doing stuff I enjoy with friends–and then they thank me for it! It’s awesome. Also, I work here because Drew was desperate enough for a copywriter to hire me even though I didn’t have any professional writing experience.

Last but not least — so which are your favorite descriptions?

A lot of the stuff I did for Gus Design Group I like–the Pawn Stool especially, but also the Stainless Steel Magazine Rack and the Stainless Cube. Those were challenging, because the furniture, while extremely well-made and very attractive, is so minimal that it’s hard to talk about. So I went at them kind of sideways instead, not describing the items themselves, really, but making kind of a mood-portrait of them, or just riffing on the names. That was a lot of fun. The Pawn Stool is like the most finely distilled version of that strategy–and probably the outer limits of it, too, as I don’t imagine I’ll get to do anything that oblique again (it’s not a fantastic sales tactic, I think). I also like the Plume pillow description. It’s fun and more obviously engaged with the product, but it also tries to involve the customer. And I wrote it *before* I ever saw an episode of “Little Britain,” so there’s no Kenny Craig in it anywhere (I know!).

If you weren’t writing amazing product descriptions, what would you be doing?

If I weren’t writing for Design Public, I’d probably still be at crap temp jobs (do I ever have some stories…), trying to figure out how I could get out of them for some kind of permanent writing or editing job.

What do you do in your spare time?

I read a lot, I play in the local community college band, I write, I watch stuff from Netflix. And on the weekends I’m usually out with my fiance somewhere around town, often out taking pictures.

Who was your favorite member of the A-Team?

Face was the cutest, and was pretty smooth, but Murdock was insane (in both good and bad ways), and is therefore clearly more awesome.

View Jeff’s holiday wishlist here.