While working at Barneys New York, I was the sole designer on the New Business Strategy Team, responsible for all designs of the company’s propriety brands—including Connor New York and Lisa Perry. During this time, I led the ideation and creative for all designs (current and new) in addition to creating marketing launch plans for each product and helping with product production to receipt in stores.
Once the products were created and launched in store, I worked with the Barney’s retail team to assist in product merchandising and arrangement.
The Connor Brand
Connor is a luxury stationery, home decor, and lifestyle brand sold in the Women’s Merchandising department of Barneys New York. Known for its artisanal quality and iconic motifs, all Connor stationery is hand-engraved, hand-stamped and hand-packaged, ensuring the highest quality product for its buyers.
As the sole designer for this brand, I designed and helped to create 7 collections end-to-end. From ideation through production to receipt in stores, while also leading social and marketing efforts as well.
Home Product Design
Product Creation & Design Process
In addition to stationery, we expanded our motifs to be placed on assorted home products including calendars, door hangers, paperweights, and cocktail napkins.
For all products I conceptualized the design and created mockups. Once approved, I contacted the various manufacturers to have the products produced.
After creation, I served as the art director for all photo shoots, going to the studio and working with the photo team to provide visual assets to our marketing teams for promotion throughout social and stores.
Lisa Perry Vinyl Placemats
For Lisa Perry Home, another proprietary brand of Barneys, I designed 5 reversible placemats. The placemats are all coated in vinyl and measure 14” in diameter. The bright, bold designs were all inspired by Lisa Perry’s signature ready to wear collections which all emphasize shape and bright color.
After many rounds of initial designs, I met directly with Lisa Perry and the Barneys CMO and SVP of Home to finalize these five designs.
Similarly to other home products that I designed, once the placemat designs were finalized, I worked directly with the production manager to source manufacturers, oversaw the process from product creation to receipt in stores, and assisted our marketing team with art direction for photoshoots and social promotion.
Stationery Collections
Aiming to target a millennial audience, we created seven themed collections for different months that would inspire younger people to use correspondence cards, bringing back the love and appreciation for handwritten notes. This idea provided a fresh aspect to our traditional brand, helping to broaden our current buyers and increase profit sales.
Wax Monogram Collection
In February 2019 we created our wax monogram collection as part of our “Write Love Notes Again” campaign for Valentine’s Day.
This collection offered individually hand-stamped, calligraphed letters in over 10 colors.
I collaborated with a calligrapher to perfect each letter and helped to assemble orders for influencer marketing.
Pet Collection
In April 2019, we created a pet collection in honor of National Pet Month.
I drew the French Bulldog motif and hand-designed the typography for the collection. The cards were sold individually as well as in a mixed trio.
Travel Collection
In June 2019 we created a travel collection. These cards were elegant and simple, providing the perfect canvas for vacation letters to loved ones.
Inspired by Italian signage, I created custom typography for the cards.
Brand Partnerships
Connor x La Fleur
In February 2019 Connor created a brand partnership with La Fleur Bouquets. The partnership first launched as part of a Valentine’s Day special and included a $500 giveaway as well as a trunk-show in store.
Being the most successful brand partnership of the year with a 78% sell through in store, Connor brought back a second La Fleur collection during May 2019 for Mother’s Day.
For both collections I was involved in contacting and meeting with La Fleur’s CEO, choosing the bouquet colors, managing the in-store trunk show, and shooting/providing art direction for all visual assets.
Connor x Beboe (Scott Campbell)
& The High End
In April 2019, Connor launched two marijuana inspired collections in accordance with Barneys New York’s launch of The High End, a luxury cannabis lifestyle shop.
The first collection was a collaboration with Scott Campbell, a well-known tattoo artist and the founder of Beboe, a luxury cannabis shop, nicknamed the “Hermès of Marijuana” (NY Times). This included correspondence cards, notepads, and paperweights; all designed with Scott Campbell’s original artwork on cannabis hemp paper.
The other collection that we created in collaboration for the launch of The High End, was our “Lit Up” collection. This stationery series had short, funny sayings referencing marijuana and also included perforated filters at the bottom for joints or cigarettes.
For both collections, I was involved in the imagination, creation, art direction, and marketing efforts associated with the products from start to finish.
Marketing & Social Promotion
Along with product creation, I also assisted with marketing efforts and social promotion. This included assisting the marketing manager with the Connor Instagram and acting as a liaison with the marketing team to create a detailed monthly launch plan for each collection. For social, I helped increase engagement and brand awareness by creating illustrations and curating posts that helped consumers interact with our products.
