The Longleaf Hotel & Lounge is a reimagined, modernized 1960’s motor lodge in downtown Raleigh. It is this office’s largest project to date and it recently earned Raleigh's first Michelin certification. Originally built as a classic two story TraveLodge the property had fallen on hard times as a Day’s Inn in recent decades. Faux cornices and columns masked mid-century starshine breeze blocks and cantilevered overhangs. Loden Properties entrusted me with creating a vision to renew the hotel and deliver a unique stay.
The name references North Carolina’s soaring longleaf pines with their whimsical trios of needles, long shadows, and needle-blanketed grounds. Rhythms and textures derived from the longleaf’s habitat are balanced by a refined material palette creating a serene environment without feeling forest themed.
The Longleaf Lounge–open to visitors and locals in the lobby–flips the palette to a dim, dressed-up but still casual vibe.
The Longleaf has been named “coolest hotel in NC” by Thrillist and the “best place to stay” in Raleigh by Bon Appétit.
Services: naming, brand identity, print design, environment and interior design, artwork, signage design, web design
The brand identity and graphics folio for The Longleaf Hotel & Lounge celebrates the hotel’s namesake pine trees with natural hatching, tree trunk like rhythms, and a color palette of refreshing green and blush hues contrasted by rich brassy browns. Consistent with the environment design, the hotel’s hallmark starshine breeze blocks cameo throughout graphics cleverly weaving mid-century modern with nature.
For 35 years I’d not been a coffee drinker. With travel and becoming a dad, coffee became a necessity and then a daily ritual. Jubala Coffee has been the matchmaker, crafting my favorite latte which truly made me love coffee. When owner Andrew Cash approached me about a brand update to expand into roasting, well you know.
Building upon an existing geometric identity we doubled down on the symbolism of a triangle (looking up) and added a scallop (looking down) which represents cultivating the earth and then, a coffee bean. This dichotomy is expressed throughout the branding, packaging, and spaces of Jubala’s three coffee shops and roastery.
Services: brand identity, graphic design, environment design, signage design, packaging design
The culinary love child of chefs Josh "Skinny" DeCarolis and Matt Kelly Mothers & Sons is the first restaurant in the south to offer "fatto a mano" (hand made pasta) which Skinny studied in Italy prior to opening. The concept pays homage to the DeCarolis family. The logo – a thorned rose crossed with a scaly artichoke – symbolizes a mom and her son respectively...or is it the other way around?
Services: brand identity, graphic design, environment design, signage design, web design
Noting a glaring gap in unique barbering services in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and Charlotte Phipps brothers Andy and Pete have created a North Carolina institution. I've worked collaboratively with Arrow for a decade to create a vision, branding, messaging, and environments which can appeal to grandson and grandad alike. Built around simple but reimagined materials each of the ten shops assumes the character of its location but in a definitively Arrow way.
Services: brand identity, graphic design, environment, signage, web, copywriting
I've had the incredible fortune to work with James Beard Award-winning chef Ashley Christensen and her team for almost a decade. Together we've developed holistic brand identities for seven hospitality concepts. There’s too much work to show everything, so here are some favorite moments from the projects.
Withernot reimagines the classic rugby shirt, returning to its rock climbing heritage while also recognizing a broader cultural relevance of the iconic white collar, striped shirts sported by stonemasters, jocks, ivy’s, and celebrities alike.
Its name and branding express a refined utility, a woven strength, and a deep rooted tree in a timeless mark.
The logo was selected for Logo Archive’s first collection of modern day logos, LogoArchive.Now
Services: name consulting, brand identity
This subterranean drinking den from chef Ashley Christensen has lived multiple lives. For a decade the bar and brand elevated the expectations of craft cocktails in N.C. with hand cut ice, glasses picked for optimal carbonation trajectory, and an encyclopedic illustrated menu. Bespoke inlaid type was pressed in gold foil on pewter paper, laid in penny tile, cast in neon, and etched in wooden muddlers. After a three year hibernation Fox was reborn in 2023 maintaining its acute focus on details but the brand unbuttons a bit for a slightly more casual look inspired by a fox’s folly. Scroll for Fox 2.0.
Services: brand identity, graphic design, environment, signage, web, copy writing
Born in 1981, I’m more Generation: Space Shuttle than anything else. The radical white spacecraft first lifted off that year, strapped to a towering orange fuel tank. As I grew up with shuttle launches I coveted my Micro Machine orbiter returning home atop its 747. The NASA “worm” must have been part of my primer to logotypes. In 2021, ten years after the last space shuttle flight I created a commemorative mark which portrays the iconic nose cone of the shuttle, piercing the Earth’s atmosphere, extending a human presence out into the universe in one thrusted motion.
Personal project
Transfer Company Food Hall is a project which is near and dear. Located in my neighborhood, Olde East Raleigh, like so many others I saw the dilapidated Stones Warehouse for years and dreamed of what it could be. I partnered with neighbor and developer Monarch Property Co. and architecture firm Clearscapes to help bring the warehouse back to life. Previously a bus service depot, the true star of the design project is the restored space itself so the identity is intentionally minimal. Inside, some of Raleigh’s best food purveyors serve everything from bagels to empanadas to oysters.
Consistent with chef Cheetie Kumar’s tour of tastes and techniques, branding for her latest restaurant Ajja eschews one singular mark for an eclectic and collected approach. The brand identity imagines Ajja as a connector of people, places, and cuisines breaking borders through the Mediterranean, Middle East, and beyond. Consider Ajja your coach bus arriving in 1960’s Marrakech, an 80’s jetliner taking off from Istanbul, or a Y2K calling card at a kiosk in Beirut. Wherever you may be in this world – or others – Ajja invites you to “come over!!”
On-going self expressions in a time of social distancing, sheltering in place, and pollen hell.
Chef Ashley Christensen's latest venture in an ex-bank slash mortuary. Fueled by a massive wood fired grill, Death & Taxes' identity references four symbols: fire representing technique; an hour glass for time; a flourish inspired by the massive bank vault in the basement; and a cleaver for, well, the name of the restaurant.
Services: brand identity, graphic design, environment, signage, web
RACo. is a do-it-all group of architects, makers, and thinkers elevating Raleigh's architectural vernacular. The name references their passion in place and desire to re-introduce the world to a vibrant and reimagined architectural community in Raleigh. The mark is designed as one singular, intentional line, reduced to its simplest form while still communicating two letters — R and A. The expanded brand identity introduces a constructed typographic system meant to interact with the dynamic silhouettes of their projects themselves.
Services: brand identity, graphic design, print design, signage
Joule was the coffee shop and all-day hang by James Beard award-winning chef Ashley Christensen, so naturally it was much more than your average coffee shop. Its name and identity were influenced by the scientific unit, joule, which is the mechanical equivalent of heat. The visual identity hints at the hard work that goes in to each cup of coffee with icons derived from James Joule's experiments.
Services: brand identity, graphic design, environment, signage, web
Saint James Seafood is Chef Matt Kelly's ode to the sea. The visual and material identity stemmed from a collection of ship paintings Kelly had amassed. Large gestural plaster pulls–almost a dive into one of the paintings–welcome guest in an entry cove. The space then opens into an impressive two story dining room of brass tables, restored tile, and a grid of almost buoy-like light pendants.
Services: brand identity, graphic design, environment and interior design, signage design, web design
I've worked with CAM Raleigh to expand an excellent existing identity through their brand, marketing, space, and events. Housed in a restored warehouse with an iconic modern canopy, CAM Raleigh brings contemporary arts to North Carolina through exhibits by living creators. We've used the building's most distinguishing feature as a visual device to frame artist's work and create a recognizable core brand at the same time.
Services: brand identity, brand extension, graphic design, print design, environment graphics
A shared space and platform for independent creatives in Raleigh's emerging warehouse district, The Assembly was home base for 20+ independent designers, writers, illustrators, developers, strategists, and even a florist. As a founding partner in the venture I was tasked with creating its initial visual identity with Gino Reyes and its environment design, expressed through the space's interchangeable logos and mobile floorplan.
Services: brand identity, graphic design, environment, signage, web, copywriting
Following NC State’s men’s and women’s basketball teams both making their Final Fours in 2024, I felt compelled to finally manifest a mark I’ve long considered. The Brick S is a personal project homage to my alma mater, where red clay bricks are the very foundation of the university, defining of both its place and its people. They represent a hard working nature, commitment to a process, and a distinct whole come to life through its parts.
Some used, some not.
Services: brand identity, exhibition identity, graphic design, print design, environment graphics
Following a special edition packaging project with Durham-based Counter Culture Coffee, I was asked to reimagine the company's core identity and create a stand alone mark for the future. Their existing logotype had an admittedly rustic, by-hand feel which was prevalent when the company was founded in 1995. Looking to modernize and continuing the geometric graphic approach I took for Aida's Grand Reserve packaging, I recommended focusing on the idea of 'counter perspectives' — two ways of thinking about something which complement each other. Positive and negative if you will. Bold and graphic to match the ethos of the company and a different way of creating coffee.
Services: brand identity, graphic design, brand positioning
CAM Raleigh's largest annual fundraising event, Arthouse has become an important sub-brand of the museum. Each year's event adopts a different visual theme but always starting with pink to complement CAM's yellow.
Services: brand identity, event identity, graphic design, print design, event graphics
Half-thought, quickly executed ideas and comments to accompany. Not a blog.
I was invited by the skate crew at Nike to create a couple lines of shirts with typography as the lead. The first release was a custom cursive slasher display face. Second was a grotesk shadow face.
Concepts were later pitched for skater's union emblems and a Nike SB concrete brand complete with concrete mixer to criss-cross the country building skateparks. Times were tough and the concept never made it to fruition.
Services: graphic design, apparel
Typography plays a leading role in my creative process. Here an on-going collection of typographic compositions, customizations, and creations— some used, some not.
Following an incredible honeymoon stay at CPH Living in Copenhagen, I felt compelled to create a brand for the upstart venture of owners Henrik & Henrik. The twelve room boat hotel was so carefully restored and crafted with smart Danish details. Inspired by it all I pulled elements from the design of the boat itself, as well as Danish nautical insignia. This personal interpretation was published in Infinite Pattern by Ginko press.
River scuzz, jet exhaust, bent benches, and other photographs often relating to distortion, dissonance, coincidence.
