Hello
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Raised in an artistic household and family, my identity and self-hood have always centered around creative pursuits. My childhood was spent at a large wooden desk where I would paint and draw for hours, often interrupted by adventures in the woods behind my house. Today, I still paint and draw, and I can often be found with my sketchbook in a meadow not far from my childhood home.
Design with Kirin was born because I wanted to connect with artists and tell stories by utilizing design.
By teaching myself how to work within the Squarespace toolkit, I have developed a hands-on approach to help you feel confident in your own skills and abilities when in comes to developing your digital presence as a creator. Together, we can share your story and your work with simple, elegant and thoughtful design.
My Story
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I attended Bennington College in Vermont where I studied Illustration and Visual Narrative, primarily concentrating on the relationship between word and image. After graduating in 2015, I worked at Bennington for three years as an admissions counselor, and then took a major pivot: knowing that higher education wasn’t the future I wanted and hoping to do something that employed my visual skills, I quit my job and moved to Denver.
Something was still missing for me though: I hadn’t found the connection to a creative community and pursuit that I’d been looking for, and I ultimately arrived back in my hometown of Philadelphia. During the early months of the pandemic when I was unable to work, I had the opportunity to re-imagine what life could look like. After building a couple of websites for artists and teaching myself how to use squarespace, I realized I had found something that allowed me to connect with artists and engage with my love for design and storytelling.
Painting
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My paintings and drawings are rooted in images found in beloved books from my childhood, and some version of an imaginary world that was born out of the woods behind the house I grew up in. I do most of my painting on an island off the coast of Maine every summer.
After the Lighthouse
Stay Safe, Stay Warm
I often paint with watercolor or gouache and prefer a hot press paper. In addition to painting I also do ink drawings which can be seen throughout the site.
Home in Time