Interviews with Studio Matte

I hold a Bachelor of Science degree in Product Design and Master of Arts degree in Design. Since mid level education I was sure that I wanted something in between art and sciences. I felt close to each and was rather successful in each but had not felt to be in the extreme side of any of them. Looking at my options of degrees, what caught my attention was architecture and industrial design.

I knew that I wanted to make things around me more functional and more beautiful. So, I have chosen industrial design because it was offering me more opportunities & more areas to work with in the future. During university education I spent one year in Italy in a Communication Design program. That also had a lot of effect to shape my career as a brand designer today.

It was entirely my own choice. I was drawn to visual language, structural aesthetics, and branding from early on. It was never just a career path, but the natural lens through which I evaluate value and communication.

At Studio Matte, we specialize in strategy, 360-degree brand identities, structural and graphic packaging design.

While I consider myself a dedicated studio practitioner rather than a legend, my biggest advice is to build a visible personal brand early. Share your work and thought process publicly on platforms like Behance, LinkedIn, and Upwork. Treat design as a strategic business tool, not just decorative artwork.

A good designer creates visually pleasing work that fulfills the brief. A great designer understands business economics: how visual authority impacts pricing power, retail placement, customer trust, and long-term brand equity.

I evaluate design by intent, clarity, and performance. A really good design removes unnecessary friction, commands trust instantly, and reflects the true quality of what’s inside. If a design looks beautiful but fails to move the needle for the business, it hasn't finished its job.

Good design is financial infrastructure. It isn't a cosmetic line item; it’s a strategic investment that unlocks pricing power, opens high-end retail distribution doors, and keeps businesses from competing purely on price discounts.

Developing an in-house product brand under Studio Matte; a physical line of F&B or lifestyle products where we oversee product formulation, visual identity, packaging architecture, and retail distribution end-to-end.

Intentionality paired with clear studio boundaries. My secret ingredient is protecting the fundamentals: the research, creative exploration, and concept presentation phase. When you invest heavy strategic effort upfront and structure your process clearly, the final execution remains uncompromisingly strong.

Dieter Rams, Charles & Ray Eames, Ellen Lupton

I admire restrained packaging systems that rely on tactile paper stocks, thoughtful typography, and elegant structural forms rather than loud graphics. When unboxing feels like a quiet ritual, that is design at its highest level.

Our award winning packaging system for Sprouties stands out because it balanced playful emotional appeal with high commercial authority. Equal to that are some rebranding projects, where our rebrand gave the client the positioning leverage to nearly double their retail pricing.

Maintain a high volume of output, analyze why top-tier brands command premium market share, and share your work publicly. When client work is slow, build self-initiated projects to refine your skills and learn to articulate the business reasoning behind your aesthetic choices.

I likely would have pursued architecture or creative direction, anything centered around spatial experience, sensory detail, and visual storytelling.

Design is strategic leverage. It is the practice of translating intrinsic value into a visual language that commands trust, authority, and engagement. It's both analytical and imaginative. It's what makes us humans enjoy life, get inspired and find meaning.

My family, my studio collaborators, and the early clients who trusted Studio Matte with major rebrands. The online design community on platforms has also been a constant source of encouragement and momentum.

Discipline, refusing to deliver generic concepts, and taking the time to understand my clients' business models. Combining aesthetic rigor with commercial awareness made all the difference.

Present work through the lens of strategy and objectives, not personal preference. Instead of explaining what you like aesthetically, frame your decisions around target audience behavior, positioning, visual hierarchy, and business goals.

Expect Studio Matte to continue diving deeper into 360-degree brand overhauls, major packaging system architecture, and digital portals that connect millions of users to real-world destinations.

To establish Studio Matte as a benchmark for strategic repositioning—a creative studio known for turning ambitious products and platforms into category leaders through design.

Design reduces visual clutter and friction in everyday life. Good design encourages sustainable production, elevates cultural standards, and helps ethical, high-quality businesses cut through cheap commodity noise.

Projects where the post-launch impact is tangible: helping clients double their pricing power, positioning allowing them to enter retail chains like Target or Nordstrom, and redesigning to elevate the experience which leads to a better reach.

As digital creation tools speed up production, generic visual output will be commoditized. The value will increasingly shift toward human discernment, physical tactile craftsmanship, and distinct visual identities that stand apart from automated trends.

A full brand identity and packaging architecture project generally takes 5 to 10 weeks, structured clearly across Phase 1 (exploration and concept presentation) and Phase 2 (refinements and asset production).

I start with diagnosis. I look at current market positioning, price ceilings, competitor landscapes, and target audience expectations before drawing a single concept.

Strategic design sets standards; trend-chasing creates fast obsolescence. The strongest work uses contemporary context intentionally without becoming dependent on short-lived micro-trends.

Technology is an enabler for execution, speed, and technical precision, but taste, strategic discernment, and creative vision remain entirely human.

Adobe Creative Cloud (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign) for brand systems and packaging prep, Figma for digital UI/UX layout, high-end 3D rendering software and AI visualization tools for visualizations, and physical paper swatches for print accuracy.

They build the subconscious perception of a brand. Color triggers instant memory, material weight signals quality, and tactile detailing gives customers implicit permission to pay a premium price.

I wish people would ask: "What market repositioning did this visual system unlock for the business?" rather than just asking about tools or font choices.

"What strategic choices made this feel so balanced, intentional, and complete?"

Classics like Bruno Munari’s "Design as Art", Rick Rubin's "Creative Act", Ellen Lupton’s "Thinking with Type" and "Design is Storytelling", alongside business literature focused on brand positioning and market dynamics.

Winning recognition like A' Design Award is a wonderful validation of our team's standard of work. But I stay grounded, awards are great milestones, but the real reward is seeing our clients succeed and grow post-rebrand.

A great day is hearing from a client that their new brand identity helped them double their pricing, secure high-end retail distribution, or launch to overwhelming customer response. Real-world impact is the best motivation.

I was always fascinated by packaging boxes, book covers, and visual arrangement before I even knew the word "branding." The interest in visual structure was always there.

While technology and display mediums will evolve dramatically, the fundamental human connection to beauty, balance, storytelling, and visual clarity will remain constant.

I have always been drawn to the intersection of stories and physical objects. I didn't want to just paint a picture or make something look "pretty" on a screen; I wanted to build things that people could interact with, hold, and bring into their daily lives. Becoming a designer wasn't a sudden realization—it was a natural progression of wanting to turn abstract ideas into functional, beautiful realities.

I run Studio Matte. We are a strategic branding and identity studio partnering with ambitious founders across the USA and Europe, mostly in the pre-launch phase. We specialize in consumer packaged goods (CPG), lifestyle, and e-commerce brands. We are built on the philosophy of Slow Design—prioritizing intent, strategic depth, and high-level craft over rapid, generic output.

Design for me, is a powerful generator for life. It’s not decoration or an afterthought. It is a strategic business asset that bridges the gap between a digital brand promise and its physical reality. True design creates an emotional ritual for the consumer while solving a clear commercial problem for the founder.

I love working on comprehensive brand creations from scratch or transformations—projects where I can establish the strategy first, then build the entire visual identity from the ground up. Packaging design for food, wellness, and lifestyle brands is incredibly rewarding because it directly impacts how a person experiences a product in the real world.

A recent favorite is our work for a premium pet brand called Sprouties. Instead of following standard industry patterns, I crafted a custom, high-end wordmark where the distinctive brand mark is seamlessly embedded into the typography itself. It perfectly balances premium sophistication with warmth, showing what happens when every single letter is given intentional attention.

An early brand identity and packaging suite for a local client. It was the project where I first truly confronted the "Physicality Gap"—learning that a design can look flawless in a digital PDF, but its real success depends on how it survives a shipping container, printer settings, and the actual hands of a consumer.

My favorite "medium" is tactile, high-quality paper stock—understanding how the weight and texture of a box under a thumb changes a customer's perception of value. In a digital environment, I rely heavily on custom, bespoke typography. Technology is a powerful tool, but physical tactility is where a brand becomes real.

In the morning, just after exercising, I have my deep-work hours, with a coffee in my hand. That quiet window allows me to look at the "metas" of a project and sketch out a brand's strategic foundation entirely away from a computer screen.

Coherence: Does the physical object tell the same story as the digital platform?

The "3-Foot Read": Can a busy consumer instantly recognize the brand name and flavor/product type from a few feet away?

Structural Logic: Is the layout built to withstand the chaotic realities of supply chains and retail environments?

A mix of deep focus and a healthy sort of tension. Until a point, the process is somewhat painful. We can say it's a labor pain because creating something from out of thin air is extremely diffivult. Stripping away the noise to find the absolute core truth of a brand requires a lot of discipline. It’s the feeling of solving a complex puzzle where every piece has to justify its existence.

A profound sense of relief and pride—especially when a founder shares that our work helped them secure a major distribution deal, step onto a massive retail shelf, or hit their highest revenue goals. Seeing a brand build a genuine community is the ultimate reward.

A design is successful when it moves the needle for a business. If it doesn't solve a real-world commercial problem, de-risk a launch, or build trust with the target audience, it is just art. Design must have a purpose and deliver measurable business results.

Intentionality and clarity. I ask: Why was this choice made? If a design is just following a passing aesthetic trend or copying what everyone else is doing, it fails. A good design communicates its purpose in a single glance without needing a long explanation.

Material responsibility. As packaging designers, we have a duty to consider the physical lifecycle of what we create. This means pushing for sustainable substrates, minimizing waste in dielines, and proving to clients that eco-friendly packaging doesn't have to look boring or default.

Today, anyone can generate endless digital iterations or a generic logo in seconds using AI tools. Because of this, the design field is shifting. The future belongs to designers who act as true strategic partners—professionals who focus on human psychology, custom craft, and the complex structural realities of physical production that software cannot replicate.

I look entirely outside of modern design trends. I find inspiration in vintage print archives, classical art, architecture, real-world textures, and deep, honest conversations with founders about why they started their businesses in the first place.

I would describe my approach as Slow Design—bold, highly intentional, and deeply custom. My style is defined by vibrant, well-thought-out color choices, strong typographic layouts, and dynamic imagery. I avoid safe, generic minimalist patterns because I believe brands deserve a distinct visual soul.

I am based in Paris, working with a global roster of clients, particularly in the US and Europe. The rich European heritage of fine craft, balance, and timeless architecture heavily influences my appreciation for structure and longevity. The pro is being surrounded by a culture that respects the time it takes to make things well; the challenge is ensuring that timelessness is balanced with the high-energy, fast-moving needs of modern startup markets.

I don’t work as a hands-off vendor who takes a brief and disappears. I work directly in the trenches with founders as a strategic ally. Our partnerships are highly collaborative, built on clear communication, clear boundaries, and a shared commitment to de-risking their upcoming launch.

Look for a strategist, not just a tool user. Don't choose a designer based solely on a collection of pretty mockups. Look for real work and real impact. Pick a partner who asks uncomfortable, deep questions about your business goals, your audience, and your operational challenges before they ever mention colors or fonts.

Our process moves through three clear, uncompromised phases:

Deep Discovery: Uncovering the brand's raw emotional core, mission, and community context.

The Strategic Filter: Defining the exact positioning, voice, and narrative anchor.

Visual Translation: Bringing that strategy to life through custom typography, structural logic, and tactile brand systems.

My day is strictly split to protect my creative energy. Mornings are dedicated entirely to deep work—strategy development, typography sketching, and core identity design without the distraction of emails or pings. Afternoons are reserved for meetings, design presentations, reviewing printer proofs, and managing studio operations. Evenings are for stepping away entirely to disconnect and recharge.

Stop trying to be the fastest software user in the room. The tools don't matter. The market value of pure execution is dropping rapidly. Instead, train yourself to become an exceptional strategic thinker and master of taste. Learn to speak the language of business, understand why a design choice works commercially, and build the confidence to articulate your decisions clearly to a founder.

The Positive: The incredible privilege of taking a founder’s personal life story or vision and translating it into a living, breathing brand that people fall in love with.

The Negative: The constant creative urge to iterate infinitely. Learning when a project is truly finished, respecting your own boundaries, and stopping the design process when it perfectly answers the strategy is a lifelong discipline.

If a design element does not actively serve the underlying strategy, cut it out.

Active listening, rigorous strategic problem-solving, mastery of typography, and a deep understanding of physical manufacturing and production constraints.

By setting firm professional boundaries. I block out specific deep-work windows on my calendar, enforce a dedicated feedback window with our partners, and handle all communications through formal channels like email rather than informal, ad-hoc chat applications.

"How do we stand out without just looking trendy?"

Building Studio Matte from the ground up and committing completely to the Slow Design model. Learning to say "no" to fast, transactional logo jobs so we could focus entirely on high-impact, strategy-first partnerships was the most defining moment of my career.

I have worked with a wide range of clients from internationally recognized brands like Snapchat, Hallmark, and Johnson & Johnson to dynamic start-ups. I've played a pivotal role in driving successful product launches across diverse sectors including FMCG, cosmetics, wellness, F&B, tech, and healthcare.

Pre-launch identity design where packaging is the primary touchpoint. There is nothing quite like creating a physical unboxing experience that makes a customer feel completely understood the moment they hold the product.

To continue expanding Studio Matte’s footprints across the global startup ecosystem. We want to keep push the boundaries of what intentional, custom packaging can do to de-risk launches for independent brands, while continuing to challenge generic digital output.

I direct and execute the core visual identity systems myself. For strategy, production, specialty printing, or development, I collaborate with my own team, dedicated manufacturing experts and the founders' internal teams to ensure our physical logic translates perfectly into the real world.

We were recently invited to develop the full brand strategy and visual identity for an exciting upcoming F&B brand based out of California. It's a project born from an identified market gap, and we are currently designing a warm typography and color system and an ownable mascot that honors that emotional connection without looking juvenile.

The best way to connect with us, view our case studies, or apply for a project slot is directly through our website at studiomatte.com or via our professional network on LinkedIn.

I would just remind founders that in an era where digital noise is at an all-time high, your physical touchpoints are your greatest moat. Don't build a beautiful digital facade only to let your physical product arrive looking like an afterthought. Invest in the physical ritual—that is where real brand loyalty is born. Especially with the anti-digital movements we have started to see.

The creative reasoning was rooted in the psychology of the modern caregiver. Cat owners are inherently observant, appreciating subtlety over overt, loud messaging. We wanted a logotype that mirrored this characteristic: graceful, understated, and quietly present. By embedding the cat silhouette naturally within the letter "i," the detail is integrated into the anatomy of the word itself rather than being treated as an added decorative element.To prevent the custom letterforms from feeling overworked, we utilized softened, geometric curves and generous kerning. This clean baseline allows the hidden form to act as an organic extension of the line weight. The result is a visual "Easter egg" that anchors the brand's identity without disrupting typographic harmony.

We approached this by challenging the industry assumption that "luxury" requires complex, non-recyclable materials, foils, or high-gloss coatings. For Sprouties, luxury is synonymous with purity and authenticity. We selected a high-grammage, sustainably sourced uncoated cardstock that possesses an inherent tactile warmth.The natural matte texture of the paper compliments the organic nature of the living grass. By utilizing rich, dense forest green inks and soft creams, the material absorbs color deeply, giving a premium weight and depth to the package. Sustainability became the design's strength: the raw, tactile feel of the paper communicates a premium tier far more effectively than artificial, synthetic finishes ever could.

The research was the structural architect of the entire packaging system. Discovering that stagnant retail environments cause mold growth and nutrient depletion meant we had to completely bypass traditional retail shelving through a direct-to-consumer farm-to-door model.Veterinary insights revealed that felines require specialized nutrients based on their health conditions, which led directly to the formulation of three distinct varieties: Barley, Wheat, and Oat grass. To communicate these medicinal properties clearly without looking clinical, we translated our research into a bespoke matrix of metaphorical icons. These symbols explicitly educate the caregiver on targeted functional benefits—such as hairball reduction or digestive pathways—making the packaging an educational tool rather than a mere retail container.

The strategic leap came from a simple observation: commercial pet products typically scream for attention on a retail shelf, but once inside the home, they become visual noise. Because Sprouties is a living product that coexists with the consumer and their pet for around 14 days, the packaging needed to shift from a commercial billboard to a piece of residential decor.We engineered a two-part perforated sleeve where the top protective transit shell tears away completely. Crucially, we made the sensitive design choice to omit any massive commercial logos from the remaining bottom base. This transformed the container into a clean, minimalist plant sleeve that conceals the underlying plastic hydroponic tray and soil, allowing the product to blend seamlessly into contemporary, high-end urban interiors.

During early prototyping, the technical requirements of the hydroponic root system demanded structural air holes to prevent moisture retention and subsequent root rot. Standard circular holes or industrial ventilation slits felt clinical and severely compromised the luxury aesthetic of our "Natural Luxury" concept.The breakthrough moment occurred during a structural mapping workshop. We realized that the silhouette of our brand's cat-head icon provided the exact surface area required for optimal oxygen exchange. By precision die-cutting the ventilation holes into the shape of the icon itself, technical necessity and visual identity converged. This taught our team that true functional design doesn't separate branding from utility; instead, the brand identity can become a physiological component of the product's survival.

Our internal creative process began with a visual audit of the premium lifestyle sectors surrounding high-tier pet owners—specifically modern interior architecture, specialty wellness brands, and contemporary residential design within the UAE market. We realized there was a massive disconnect between the beautifully curated homes of these urban dwellers and the primary-colored, cartoonish pet products they were forced to buy.To validate our "Natural Luxury" palette, we mapped our deep forest greens and soft creams directly against contemporary residential interiors in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The choice was validated because these tones act as an understated extension of the home, transforming pet care into a natural luxury ritual that respects the user's personal aesthetic environment.

The cross-border development over six months allowed us to stress-test the brand language across different cultural touchpoints. As Sprouties scales, we envision its evolution not through changing its visual DNA, but through expanding its architectural principles.Two primary design principles are robust enough to guide future expansion:Identity as Utility: The concept of embedding brand assets into functional elements (like our ventilation die-cuts) can apply to any future pet wellness innovation.Structural Sensitivity: The practice of hiding industrial components behind a decorative, interior-friendly sleeve will guide any new product form factors. Whether we expand into alternative greens or physical pet accessories, this clean typographic framework ensures the brand remains recognizable without losing its premium positioning.

This award places Sprouties at the center of a vital conversation regarding the elevation of utility-driven consumer goods. It demonstrates that the pet wellness category is ripe for the same design rigor, structural innovation, and aesthetic sophistication traditionally reserved for luxury skincare or high-end hospitality.For a practice rooted in slow design, this international acknowledgment validates our methodology. It proves that taking the time to conduct deep market research, collaborate with scientific specialists, and meticulously prototype structural packaging details yields meaningful commercial and critical success. It signals to the industry that thoughtful, problem-solving design will always outlast loud, superficial trends.

The methodology required a strict collaborative balance between structural engineering, visual branding, and biological testing. In the Diverge phase, we tested radical variations of the layout. We experimented with large singular cat cutouts, and varied grid frequencies across the outer sleeve.In the Converge phase, we ran simulated environment tests to monitor internal humidity and root oxygen levels. A miscalculation meant either mold formation from low airflow or structural collapse of the paperboard from over-perforation. We settled on a precise, mathematically calibrated vertical matrix of three cat-head icons on the structural flanks. This configuration provided the exact cubic volume of airflow required for the roots to thrive while maintaining the structural integrity and clean, premium facade of the outer sleeve.

We conceptualized the unboxing sequence as a transition from the urban world into a natural ritual. When the customer receives the package, it presents as a clean, architectural object—symbolizing premium delivery and pristine quality. The pull of the perforated strip acts as the sensory catalyst; it is a tactile, satisfying mechanical interaction that formally initiates the experience.As the top sleeve is lifted, it reveals a deliberate visual contrast: the sudden exposure of fresh, vibrant green textures against the deep forest green and cream backdrop. The remaining lower base immediately grounds the product, firmly establishing it as a permanent decorative element for the home. Every layer was choreographed to transform a simple functional task into a calm, joyful, and memorable ritual of care.