Autumn Smith

You remember Hide-a-Freak right? The short-haired wig for long-haired hippies? Of course, we all do. It was the talk of Western Washington in the 1960s. Well, the guy who invented it grew up and passed his considerable entrepreneurial drive to his daughter. Autumn sold rubber bands door-to-door at 8. Had a car detailing shop at 12. Meanwhile, she was honing her artistic talents by ruling the grocery store coloring contest circuit. She’s picked strawberries, worked retail at the mall, and spent the time of her young life working in the glamorous formica-clad world of fish n’ chip sales. But all the while she never exhausted her love and passion for art and design, going so far as constantly mentally correcting and redesigning her surroundings. Eventually she found her way to college – which didn’t actually have the courses she wanted so she designed her own. While teaching herself graphic design, she also managed to open her first design business at 19, the aptly named Autumn Brochures. With that, life suddenly folded neatly into place, and Dulce Design was born. The rest, as they say, is portfolio fodder.

Personally, she’s obsessed with all magazines, design and otherwise. She’s also into textures, boots, running, sitting, books, wine, snow, architecture, Mexico, little ones, branding, cheese, margaritas, Canadians, and long lunches. In no particular order. 

Tyler Smith

The son of hotel biz lifers, Tyler’s youth reads like a script for Fawlty Towers. Only he moved around quite a bit more, twenty times before the age of 18. A Marketing degree from Washington State prompted a return to his hotel roots at the Four Seasons Seattle, where he attempted to learn first hand the intricacies and peculiarities of each facet of the business. In the process he discovered that the front desk bears nightly witness to cringe-inducing uninhibited suburbanites, athletic twenty-somethings are no match for the rigors of housekeeping, and the restaurant manager can sometimes be called upon to work security for U2. He eventually landed in the sales office where he was able to explore the world and sell Seattle as a destination. And after leaving the hotel biz and joining Johnson & Johnson in surgical device sales, he was lured away to the creative world by Dulce Design.

You can find him participating in nearly any sport that promises to break a bone, enjoying hockey and downhill mountain biking. And did we mention he’s Canadian? So you know he’s nice. That’s just a given.