Creating prints and graphics for mens, womens and kids footwear, apparel and accessories.

Working on specialized design and product development projects including: · surface design · trend direction · seasonal color palette creation · footwear design · apparel design · soft goods design · pattern drafting & sample sewing · design mentoring for startups & new surface designers Exhibiting speculative surface design collections at Surtex NYC in 2019, 2020 & 2023 and on-line at Blue Print Live in 2021, & Showcase 2022.Clients include: · Sylvania Lighting/Ledvance- Trend forecasting for mass market sconces & pendants, 2018-2020. · Fabricut- Surface Design for Iris Apfel collaboration & French General lines of home interior fabrics. · Pyrex- Surface design & color palette for glass food storage with lids. · Fit & Fresh- Trend direction for Q4 & Mothers Day for lunch bags, backpacks, womens & kids. · Michael Graves Design- Decorative pillow & throw designs for Lowes f/w '22 & s/s '23 · Coldwater Creek- Surface design & technical vector garment flat illustration. · Talbots- In-house surface design for womens dresses, tops and pants. · Aqua Leisure- Trend research, color, prints & graphics for swimschool line. · Summer Infant- Print development & colorways for infant products. · Goodbaby- Softgoods development & sampling for strollers, wagons & other infant products. · & many others both large and small.

My course, Create Surface Patterns Inspired by Nature, has launched on Domestika!https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/4020-create-surface-patterns-inspired-by-nature/katydika

Teach adult courses & workshops in Surface Design focusing on workflow between hand & digital techniques in Surface Design. Teach students Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop as well as pertinent industry standards & best practices.

Worked with high school aged students to help develop their design skills and build their portfolios for application to RISD and other design schools with a focus on Fashion and Apparel programs. Focused on the basics of design, fashion illustration skills, textiles & keeping a sketchbook. Mentored students to produce & showcase work for college applications and portfolios.

Built the Digital Surface Design Certificate program from the ground up.Teach a 14 week course covering units on the basics of repeat and embroidery layouts in Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator, trend research, creating color palettes, as well as ethics, legal considerations, communicating color with Pantone, commercial printing & manufacturing methods , and more.

Managed all trend, color palette & surface design development for company, in juvenile, fitness, mens and womens categories. Designed backpacks, gym bags and lunch bags for mass market and department store chains such as Macy’s, Wal-mart, TJX, Target and others. Created hundreds of surface design production-ready repeats in multiple colorways for juvenile and adult product each season. Communicated daily with overseas manufacturers for sourcing fabrics and sampling of product.

Taught Sophomore CAD course for Apparel Department degree program, covering topics such as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, basic textile repeat standards, and drawing of vector flats for Apparel. Taught Textile Analysis, for Apparel Department degree program, covering topics to help students understand the functional properties of and identification of fiber contents in a variety of textiles. Mentored students to give a broad understanding of how to select appropriate fiber contents and weave structures for specific applications.

Caring for and curating a unique natural history collection of over 90,000 items. Managing a staff of over 20 student employees. Acting Curator/Director during the search for a new Director, performing tasks such as budget management, purchasing and tours for high profile donors and visitors.

Joined AmeriCorps as an Environmental Educator stationed at the Roger Willams Park Zoo Butterfly Exhibit and ran a children's group called "Bug Club".

Developed 100+ production-ready textile repeats, embroideries and other artwork in multiple colorways each season for Chadwick’s, Jessica London and MetroStyle women’s wear brands.Coordinated artwork for fabric production with overseas factories. Created artwork and visual displays for internal and external meetings. Operated and performed general daily maintenance on Epson wide format printer including overseeing color accuracy of seasonal color palettes.

Corresponded efficiently and effectively with overseas vendors to design, sample and produce an extensive tabletop line. Traveled overseas to China and India to source new textiles, interview new suppliers and troubleshoot production of developed product.

Created original artwork for rugs, tabletop products and bedding focusing in children’s, novelty and holiday themes. Specialized in embroidery, print artwork and realistic digital product rendering for presentation.

Researched and purchased digital textile printer and other CAD department equipment saving the company a projected $160,000 annually on sample costs. Prepared artwork for factory and managed color and lab-dip submissions from vendors for all brands including Safety First, Cosco, Disney, and Eddie Bauer.Printed color-accurate digital fabric for use on in-house product samples.

Updated line sheets and spec packs. Developed color usage charts unifying color palettes between apparel and accessory design teams. Shadowed each member of the design team in order to understand the operations of the entire department.