Hello folks,

Drum roll please…(just kidding). My name is Ali and it is my pleasure to get to introduce some of our new items as they are added to our site. You’ll be hearing more from me within the next couple days, weeks, and hopefully months, but for now this is a little about me…

Where are you from? I am a Boulder, CO mountain girl at heart, but I lived in a small town in Illinois for a few years during my formative years where I learned to appreciate the taste of Midwestern cuisine (meatloaf, corn, frozen peas, Jell-O with marshmallows, etc.). I moved to Northern California for college and have pretty much been here ever since. I also lived in Saudi Arabia and Alaska shortly after I was born, but I don’t really remember either spot so I guess they don’t count.

Where do you live now? I have been a bit of a nomad during my 9 years in Nor Cal, but I have now nestled myself into a corner in Oakland and love it.

How did you get interested in design? I have always had a passion for crafts, design, and art in general. As a child I would make intricate dioramas for book projects and they would typically be scenes in a home. I loved not only incorporating my vision of what the scene from the book would look like but I would add a little of my own style so the room became a mini version of an environment I would want to live in (and no, my parents didn’t make my school projects for me). In college one of my majors was in art with a focus on mixed media painting (I love textures!). I took a couple photography classes and while other students did their final projects taking pictures of people or landscapes, I was off photographing chairs.

What’s your favorite DP product and why? Where do I begin?! The very first item that caught my eye when I saw the DP site was the Blu Dot Buttercup Rocker. I have a thing for chairs just like most gals have a thing for shoes (oh, and I have a thing for shoes too). I feel like many chairs have just about as much personality (or lack of personality) as people do. Perhaps my chair love manifests from watching “Chairy” on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.” Of course, I can’t just stop at the Blu Dot Buttercup Rocker. I have a slew of items on my wishlist. My fist DP purchase ever was the Matteo Due Stitch Duvet in brine and I looooove it.

What do you like most about our company? Why do you work here? Oh my gosh, what a question. This is going to sound really cheesy, but my dream job was to work for a company whose goal was to provide products to the public that were accessible, fun, functional, aesthetically interesting and where customers want to come back because their shopping experience couldn’t have been any better. I thought my dream was just a dream until I started working here. The mission of the company is not only spot on with what I was looking for, but the people are creative, witty, brilliant and thoroughly entertaining. The real clincher in what I like about the company…the office cactus named Kelly Clarkson.

If you weren’t doing this what would you do? Probably sit at home and eat beef sandwiches while watching daytime TV. Just kidding. If I wasn’t working here I would most likely try to pursue creating my own line of items. Although, this would require some start up, and that means saving some money, and that would require finding a job. I then would probably resort to finding any job off Craigslist and then get stuck working in a cubicle for 20 years.

What do you do in your spare time? I don’t really have a lot of spare time. My side gig is as a second photographer for Cooper Carras Photography which requires working weekends shooting and editing photos. We do a lot of destination wedding photography so we have to do a good amount of traveling. Luckily, traveling is my thing so I can’t complain. When I do have a moment to myself you’ll find me knitting, painting, sewing, taking pictures, reading, adventuring out for window shopping walks or eating out. If only there were 10 days to each week then I would have more time.

Who was your favorite member of the A-Team? Although I am pretty quiet, a little on the scrawny side and a really fair-skinned gal, I would have to say I am a lot like B.A. Baracus at heart. Thus, Mr. T is my absolute favorite.