About My Work
My mission is to create unique decor and furniture by combining beauty, quality and function into purposeful statement pieces. As an artist, I specialize in graphic design, woodworking, and resin art—skillsets that allow me to bring a range of artistic techniques to each piece that I create for Graceful Designs.
My brand is all about "beauty meets function." While furniture and decor pieces like coat hooks or wall organizers are inherently functional, the integration of resin art is what allows me to elevate my designs and bring unexpected beauty to each piece. Each of my resin designs—which incorporate original photography, public domain images, and accents like shells, gold and silver leaf, glitter, and more—is an artwork in its own right. By creating individual resin art panels that can not only be interchanged between functional decor pieces but can also be displayed as stand-alone artworks, I hope to give my patrons the flexibility to design, re-imagine, and re-design their spaces over time.
My design aesthetic reflects my belief that nature is art. From the amazing patterns in stones formed from countless years of geological processes to the iridescent gleam of a butterfly's wing or the rainbow of a bird's feathers, there is unending beauty in the natural world that is a constant inspiration to me. As such, you'll see nature imagery and natural objects integrated into most of my pieces.
Much of this nature imagery comes in the form of public domain images that I source from open access repositories. These images, published in books decades to centuries ago, are the work of incredibly talented artists who captured a world of beauty and wonder on the printed page. Thanks to libraries around the world, these books are being digitized and made freely available for download and reuse. Each of the entries in my portfolio and shop include specific citation information for the imagery used in that piece. I've also highlighted my favorite repositories in the section below.
I look forward each day to using my skills and passions to create unique pieces that bring beauty and function to every space. I hope that the Graceful Designs portfolio will help you transform your space into a beautiful, purposeful, and comfortable reflection of your personality and style. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about my work and the inspiration behind it.
Sincerely,
Vision Statement
Bringing beauty and function to every space through thoughtful, unique design.
Open Access Repositories
The public domain images I use in my work are sourced from the open access repositories listed below.* You too can freely download, print, and reuse public domain content from these repositories. Thank you to all of the libraries who have made their collections freely available to the world, making it easy for me and everyone else to marvel at and create with these inspirational illustrations from centuries past.
*Graceful Designs is an independent business and is not affiliated with any organization or institution.
Biodiversity Heritage Library
The majority of the public domain images that I use in my work are sourced from the amazing Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL). BHL is an open access digital library for biodiversity literature that operates as a consortium of libraries around the world. Visit the Library (biodiversitylibrary.org) to explore the entire collection or visit their Flickr (flickr.com/biodivlibrary) to browse their incredible images.
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library that provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, movies/videos, moving images, and millions of books. Explore the Library at archive.org.