Tamara LaValla Co-founder of Social Design House / Owner of Batch Craft

With a well-traveled resume that includes Senior Artist at The Herald newspaper, Design Professor at Winthrop University, Artists U facilitator for the SC Arts Commission, founder of Gallery Up, and co-founder of several design studios including the donut-friendly Social Design House, Tamara has been a staple in the Carolina's art and design scene for nearly two decades. This past year, Tamara combined her newfound addiction to travel with a return to her roots as a maker via the creation of Batch. From small batch chocolate to large-scale paintings, you can follow all of her adventures, crafted + curated with love and OCD, at batchcraft.com!

Kathie Soza Designer & Hand-letterer

Kathie is a Charlotte lettering artist and graphic designer, who specializes in custom hand-lettering and typography for editorial, advertising, branding, print and stationery design. She also owns the etsy shop Lolita Paper Goods, which features custom hand lettered invitations, products, and paper goods.

David Bulfin Industrial Designer at BOLTGROUP / Owner of Monarc Board Company

David is an industrial designer who prides himself on blending together the creative and technical disciplines without compromise. His experiences have been diverse, having helped design championship winning race cars for GM, experimental weaponry for special operators and numerous other products in the medical and consumer industries. His small business, Monarc Board Company is one of the first of it’s kind in the skating industry, seeking to collide artisan craft with bleeding edge performance technologies.

John Howard Senior Art Director at Theory House / Original packaging designer for NoDa Brewing

Early in his career he focused on Identity in Holland, Europe. He later moved to Columbia, SC for an opportunity at Chernoff Newman. Finally settling down in Charlotte, John got the chance to do a lot of different things with big clients and small. Recently he has been doing a lot of retail design which he find fascinating, developing packaging and doing Private Brand labels has been a really interesting chapter of his life.

Jason Alexander Former Graphic Designer / Current Brewer & Founder of Free Range Brewing

Jason Alexander and his brother Jeff made their dream come true opening Free Range Brewing to "let your taste buds roam.” Jason brews in small-batches and crafts local ingredients to create one-of-a-kind creations. What Jason and his brother have created is an environment that fosters community and collaboration.