About
I’ve been drawing since I was four years old.
And I still carry a sketchbook with me everywhere to this day. What began as a fun way to entertain myself as a kid, evolved into a way of thinking.
When I discovered graphic design, I found a way to build a business from doing something I loved and couldn't stop doing anyway.
At first it was all about the craft. Then about style. But it was design's power to influence thinking and change behaviour that really pulled me in. The right image with the right word in the right context could make a person stop, decide, and take action.
That's what I’ve been chasing ever since.
25 Years. One Pattern.
I’ve worked agency side, in-house, and independent. I’ve helped global CPG companies launch at national retail scale. Built multi-SKU packaging systems that had to perform at shelf and online at the same time. And I’ve brought businesses to life with brand identities for independent founders starting from nothing.
The problem was always the same.
No one could clearly answer who they were for or why what we were building made sense in context. Everyone was under pressure to stand out, so they chased clever, spectacular, or disruptive. The simple questions about who it was for and why it mattered got left behind.
Likes, views, and award nominations got celebrated while sales and cash in the bank lagged behind.
Across almost every engagement, the same gaps appeared. I kept filling them in. At some point filling in the gaps stopped being part of the job and became the job itself.
This practice exists to now do that on purpose.
Why BFY Food & Bev?
There was a moment at an agency where I was asked to create original illustration for a major bottled water brand aimed at kids.
I passed.
I couldn’t get comfortable with the idea of my work selling artificially sweetened, colour-dyed water in single-serve plastic bottles to children. It just didn’t sit right with me.
It wasn’t a dramatic turning point, more a moment of clarity. It brought into focus something that I’d been working towards for a while about the kind of clients I wanted to support.
I want clients whose brands I can become a fan of, and whose products I’d consume myself, feed to my family, and recommend to friends.
The founders building better-for-you food & bev products are taking real risks to bring them to market, often against much larger and better-funded competitors.
That’s work with purpose. It’s where my focus is now, helping those founders build shelf-strong brands that hold their ground and grow.
How I Work.
I work with founders from the first strategic conversation through to retail-ready execution. That means leading the brand positioning work, locking the shopper definition, building the shelf rationale, and directing the packaging design. I make sure strategy and brand expression are aligned before anything goes to print or into a buyer presentation.
I work with founders who are willing to make decisions, follow a process, and do the work between sessions.
Building a CPG brand that holds shelf is a discipline. The founders who win at retail aren’t always the ones with the most creative packaging or trendiest graphics. They’re the ones who made the right decisions early and didn’t second-guess them when things got hard.
What You Can Expect.
I don’t hand over a 40-page deck and move on. I work to surface what is still open, lock what needs to be decided, and build a brand foundation that can take the pressure of retail without shifting.
When the engagement is done your team moves into execution knowing what’s been decided and what won’t change. Your packaging speaks to the right shopper. Your shelf position is clear. Your buyer conversation has a foundation that holds.
Twenty minutes. One honest read of where your brand actually stands.