Tillamook Cheese launched their New York Slices Activation Event at Hudson Yard in 2023. Cheesy and fun is right up my alley, which made me a perfect freelance addition to the Happy Lucky team. The ask was to design a one day event marketing summer vibes and grillables with Tillamook Cheese. I pitched three interactive over-the-top activations including a gamified hamburger flip contest, influencer led cooking demo from the inside of an oversized grill, and food truck services from a giant custom branded boombox. Working with the build team in NYC, I handed off construction drawings of all buildable parts to expedite the two week design to build process.

Novel Tree launched their medicinal dispensary store in Bellevue Washington with the intent to expand their brand nation wide. The ask was to design a signature Novel Tree retail space with custom POS stations, a check-in counter, and private consultation room for their new location. The design intent was to consider accessibility with height adjustable retail counters with swivel display boxes and create a retail kit of parts for expanding their stores across the states.

I strive to design spaces that people want to be and live in. This means creating homes that not only look fantastic, but function at a high level. Alongside a registered architect, I designed and permitted six single family residential projects. Alongside an in-house contractor, I learned the value of designing within range of budget, timelines, and practicality.

Flatstick Pub opened its new putt putt golf pub location in Spokane Washington in 2019. As Project Manager and Technical Designer, I helped to bring this playful family experience to life. I coordinated the onsite and offsite in-house constructions teams to build the course and attached gizmos. Troubleshooting and prototyping the kinetic elements of each hole made this putt putt course stand out from the rest. Each hole was designed to include local elements bringing joy, pride, and delight to every player.

Right out of Architecture School, I moved to Seattle to work in a fabrication shop as a technical designer. Working for a startup design build studio meant that I got to wear ALL the hats. I produced more than 60+ construction drawings, bid projects with $100,000+ budgets, and established relationships with outsourced vendors to streamline production.

Projects:
- Weyerhaeuser Headquarters - Conference tables and credenzas.

- Gates Foundation, Seattle WA - Community tables and mobile work station units.

- Juno Therapeutics - 5 stories of wall cladding, bathroom stalls, reception desk, community tables, and outdoor benches.

IxDA Creative Solution project paired me with local brand Jonboy Caramels to study the long and short term effects of COVID on Ecommerce. When the world shut down March 2020, I wondered how the world would change and if that change was here to stay? Through user studies, quantitative research, and a website redesign I identified the low hanging fruit options for Jonboy to capture online sales and keep the business afloat. My research showed that online sales did spike the months after the world shut down and stayed high year over year. My zoom call user testing interviews showed that the new website needed key UX design features such as sales banners, full bleed hero images of delicious caramels, and a more memorable home page.

Check out the NEW Jonboy website -
https://jonboycaramels.com/

If you have a sweet tooth like me, you’ll buy some delicious caramels while you’re there.

P1, an interactive origami cube representing the power of one, was installed at the Seattle Design Festival. This cube was designed as a kinetic sculpture that was operated by one user to twist and fold triangular panels. P2 was upgraded at Seacompression with incorporated sequenced LEDs triggered by the movement of the origami cube. P3 was installed at Luminere in Vancouver, BC and included a motion sensor in 3D printed housing. Motion within the cube triggered a hands free motorized fold of the origami cube to delight the user as an observer.

Installations:

- Seattle Design Festival 2017, Pioneer Square, Seattle WA. Sponsored by NBBJ, Creoworks, and Lease Crutcher Lewis Construction.

- Seacompression 2017, Burien, WA. Lighting by Black Water Stars. Design/construction - Wendy Morrison, William Gibbs, Nicolas Strange, Gordon Yuen

- Lumiere, Vancouver BC 2018. Design/construction - Wendy Morrison, William Gibbs, Nicolas Strange, Gordon Yuen.

Social Media: @P1cube Facebook Page

…And then I made a motorized couch to bring the living room conversations to the streets, because why not? Ignition Northwest sponsored the Couch Armada to make a mobile couch made up of (1) steel frame chaise, (2) upcycled mobility scooter motors, (2) large swivel casters, (2) differential locking gears, (1) double axis steering joystick mounted to a flashlight, (3) upcycled 12 volt UPS truck batteries, orange fur, plastic slip covers, LED flair, and (1) AC/DC converter.

Exhibited at: Seattle Makers Fair, Burning Man, What the Festival, Seattle Design Festival, Seacompression, Ulink’s Opening Day, and Canadian TV show Discover Canada.

Social media: @The Couch Armada facebook page

I love designing environments that help people identify themselves within a space. I will obsess over the details of how to make an activation, a workspace, or a retail experience joyful and meaningful.

Seattle is a port city and shipping containers are seen everywhere. I included shipping container wall cladding as an identifying feature that created a homey space in this Seattle apartment lobby. Sourcing a container, establishing vendor relations with laser cutting manufactures, and providing cut files brought this branded environment to life.

Starbucks headquarters sits in an old Sears building in Sodo, which is a Seattle neighborhood long known for its marine history. As a nod to the past, twisted twine screens delineate workspaces in the newly remodeled Starbucks headquarters. I installed these screens, produced technical drawings for hanging brackets, and sourced all materials to site.

When I’m not rebuilding vintage motorcycles, I’m noodling around in the wood shop. I love creating furniture with a functional purpose. This desk was built for a musician, Jeff, and was all about ergonomics. The user knee fits right under the piano, which fits right under the desk top, which fits right under the monitor riser with speaker mounts positioned right at ear level. It felt like I was tailoring a garment but instead I was making a desk. I attempted to make a zero waste desk and use every scrap of drop, so I created a matching swivel stool. Rock on Jeff!

Check out my furniture @made_by_wendell

When I moved out to Seattle in 2012, I thought it was going to live up to my grunge expectations. I didn’t do my homework and found tech bros instead. Merging my expectation with reality, “tech grunge” infused my Asheville, hippie, art kid brain and pointed my creative collaborations towards embracing computer science.

With projects such as Kefi, a tech infused playground, a side project of Chick-fil-A (they’re not just a chicken company), I got to collaborate with art tech nerds to make projection mapped playgrounds activated with embedded Arduino toys. My team flew out to Atlanta to install a prototype of Kefi’s six playscapes for user testing. The project launched and COVID killed it. Here’s an article on the final product https://www.blurworkshop.com/kefi-atlanta

The start up Open Studio also created a local lobby art installation that sourced local weather data and translated it into regenerative poetry. Bad weather would produce darker poetry where as better weather would be more light hearted. I designed and installed the hardware housing for both installations.

As someone who values experiences over physical things, I find lots of joy in performance and audio visual art installations. Fire arts combine adrenaline and our primal basic need of warmth and light. With this passion, I started a weekly meetup called Flowshop, which has since moved on to be a non-profit establishing fire arts for the PNW flow arts community.

I designed, produced, and installed the main stage for Cascadia Arts festival two years in a row. Year one’s theme was water and year two was focused on projection mapped surfaces.

Besides trying to figure out which sea slug I wish to be, I am also on the search for: What’s next? How many projects can I work on simultaneously? Where are my glasses?

To forever be inspired, is to forever be curious….