I do not know squat. Actually, that's not true. I've got a background that gives me my own funny perspective on the world, style and design. This site has a blog section, where I pontificate on whatever suits my fancy...but if you want the who I am & what I've been up to for about 50 years, it's right here.

I grew up in rural eastern N.C., in a town where my schoolteacher mother's family had lived for generations. My dad is her Yankee architect import. They met on a blind date in Va. Beach. (They're still married. ) The house we lived in was a very modern 70's post & beam with lots of windows, and designed by my dad. Every Sunday after church, we would get McDonald's, go the the house site and my dad would walk through the design, explaining where the kitchen, my room or my brother's room would be and then we would see the changes each week as we ate fish-filet sandwiches and the house was built. This was my 1st foray into design - understanding how things are built & how the process works. I was 6.

I was raised to be an artist, a designer...pretty much what I am. Art was encouraged. I was sitting in the lowest bench slot kicking my heart out on a hand-made kick-wheel in an Art Center pottery class when I was 8. Even our babysitter was an incredible pen & ink artist. I worked in my dad's architecture firm doing exterior elevations when I was in jr. high. And so it went... til I turned 16 and we moved, lock stock & barrel to "The Hamptons". 

My brain rattled with the changes around me. Rural N.C. & the Hamptons are worlds apart, this was especially true in the early '80's. I spent the next few years working summers for Don & Mary Spellman at the legendary Sagaponack General Store and attending Parson's School of Design on 13th & 5th in Manhattan, and in Paris, France, majoring in Environmental Design. Parson's and the cities themselves, delivered an educational experience that was beyond expectation. I really loved it. Oh, and the summer before I went to France, I worked for Willem DeKooning & his wife, Elaine in his Springs, N.Y. studio. I cooked for them and got to watch Bill paint. Elaine gave me advice about Paris. Yes, it was great.

After Parson's I moved to Chicago & got a job working for Big Deahl Productions. We did catalog photography for clients like Montgomery Wards, Sears, Spiegel and television commercials for Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Kraft Foods, among others. I learned about lighting, soft-goods styling, set design and production. I spent a lot of time in the darkroom loading & unloading 4x5 & 8x10 film (this gives you an idea of the date, ladies & gentlemen) and renting, returning, and keeping track photography equipment. 

Next, Elite Model & Stewart Talent Management. An agency is a very interesting place. They have two clients - the company who is hiring, and the Talent, each of whom are independent contractors. I worked with makeup artists, photographers, makeup artists and fashion stylists to help this talent develop and become a viable part of the industry. The lessons I learned there about people, fashion, style, makeup & skin care, photography & editing, about trusting your eye & trusting your gut and about when to be kind & when to put your foot down, are still ideas I think about very regularly. (Thank You, Jane Stewart.) PLUS, it was the job where I learned to use a computer...Photoshop 1.0, ya'll.

On my 30th birthday, I quit that job & started working for myself. For about 17 years, I worked as an independent designer & consultant providing art direction and branding strategy for key healthcare & commercial clients in North America, Europe and the Caribbean.

In 2005, I moved to Portland, Maine.  I was feeling restless and ready for a change. Ready for work that took me away from my computer screen.

And then came The Merchant Co..

And the top of this page.

Kit has over 20 years of experience as a creative director; leading branding, graphic, web and print projects for major corporations and private businesses. 

She has worked as an independent designer & consultant since 1996, providing art direction and branding strategy for key healthcare & commercial clients. Her broad creative experience ranges from web and print design, design for branding & environment, sales presentation design support, illustration, photo-editing, and coordination of photo shoots & events.

Her early work in New York included event design and management for the legendary Sagaponack General Store in “the Hamptons” with notable clients from the New York financial, fashion, arts and television industries. She was a studio assistant for world-renowned abstract expressionist artist Willem DeKooning.

After moving to Chicago, she learned the ins & outs of the commercial photography & film advertising business working at Big Deahl Productions whose clients at the time were Kraft Foods, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Sears, Montgomery Wards and others. She continued this development when she moved to Elite Model Management, serving as their Art Director. In 1996, she started her own design business, which continues to support clients in North America, Europe and the Caribbean.

In 2012, the opportunity to partner with 3 other Portland, Maine designers in a brick & mortar shop in the heart of Portland's Arts District came along. The Merchant Company is an accessible, community based, year round shop with a focus on supporting local artists, local economy, sustainable design and small business. Her new brand "KittyKittyDangDang" is in development & is available at the shop.

Kit received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design, New York, NY, with a concentration in environmental design and architecture with studies in New York and Paris. 

After spending the last few years dividing her time between the US and Morocco, she has settled in the Arts District of Portland, Maine, while continuing to work with design clients internationally and partnering at The Merchant Company.