STVDIO MONTI is my Brooklyn-based art and design practice, specializing in graphic and web design, web development, spatial design, murals, scenic fabrication, and installations.

I’ve been captivated by art, design, and the spaces we inhabit for as long as I can remember. I grew up on the sunny beaches of Southern California, attended college in San Francisco, and eventually made my way to New York City in 2004, following a pull I had felt since my very first visit in the 1980s.

I was four years old when my mom brought me to New York to visit family, and I still remember the feeling: for the first time, I felt like I was home. From that trip on, some part of me was always planning my way back to this magical place.

My connection to New York runs through my family as well. My mom and her brothers were born in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the 1940s. Her family moved to California in the 1960s, joining the wave of people heading west during Southern California’s great real estate boom.

That era produced some incredible architecture, particularly the relaxed, indoor-outdoor modernism of designers like Cliff May, but it also gave rise to endless stretches of homes that looked and felt exactly the same. Growing up surrounded by both left an impression on me and, I think, helped shape my fascination with what makes the spaces we surround ourselves with feel comfortable.

As a child, my mom and I spent weekends exploring open houses of such boring homes in search of interior design inspiration and the latest architecture trends. She subscribed to Architectural Digest, and we would spend hours going through each issue, cutting out our favorite rooms, objects, and ideas and carefully archiving them in three-ring binders.

While other kids played tag, I recruited my friends to help me construct clubhouses in the hills near our homes using discarded materials we collected from local construction sites. Every school book report became an opportunity to design a poster advertising the imaginary film adaptation of whatever we had just read. There always had to be a creative component to both my work and my play.

As a teenager, that curiosity developed into a deeper study of art, particularly photography, theatre, and music.

I entered college intending to study interior design, but my path shifted during my freshman year when a printmaking class introduced me to graphic design. I quickly changed my major and dove headfirst into typography, printmaking, and visual communication.

After graduating, I became part of the art and design duo Urban Inks, designing and screen-printing posters for bands passing through San Francisco. That experience cemented my love of work that lives somewhere between art, design, craft, and culture, a thread that continues throughout my practice today.

After relocating to New York City, I worked at a number of advertising agencies, specializing in branding and advertising. I also studied at the School of Visual Arts, where I had the opportunity to learn from some of the most influential voices in graphic design, including Milton Glaser, Stefan Sagmeister, and Gail Anderson.

From 2007 to 2012, I owned and operated POST EXPOSE///, a community-based screen-printing and design studio in Long Island City. The studio brought together many of the things that continue to shape my work: design, making, collaboration, and community.

Today, those experiences come together through STVDIO MONTI.

My greatest inspiration continues to be the intersection of design, art, and community. I’m interested in how thoughtful creative work can shape the way we experience our everyday lives, whether it’s a mural that transforms a neighborhood wall, an installation that changes how we experience a space, an event that brings people together, or a visual identity that helps a small business communicate who they are.

For me, design isn’t limited to a screen, a page, or a physical space. It’s a way of communicating with people, creating connection, and, hopefully, bringing a little more beauty and joy into the world.