San Francisco Bay Area
I build governed domain architectures — systems that turn a decision-owner's intent, constraints, references, judgment, and acceptance criteria into explicit, machine-usable structure, so work stays explainable, auditable, and answerable in its domain. The unifying thesis >> order from chaos // beauty in systems Through apex solar kiss, I develop that practice in the open. A deterministic governance architecture brackets the generative execution span. The governing rules and decision rights remain explicit while generation varies inside the bound. Human judgment stays at the apex, not merely in the loop. I design the architecture and encoding. Domain authorities own the substance and terminal judgment. The underlying primitive is bounded generativity: define the grammar, permit bounded variance, make selection and governance explicit. The open-source portfolio includes method-ASK, control-surface, design-system-ASK, asset-pipeline-ASK for commercial visual production, and urban-observatory for public-planning implementation intelligence. As models and interfaces become increasingly replaceable, durable value moves to the encoding architecture that makes generative work answerable in its domain. That direction is grounded in a decade-plus of creative operations and production. Most recently I managed Williams-Sonoma's high-volume e-commerce photography studio for Pottery Barn Kids and Teen — production planning, capacity scheduling, and budget control across interconnected Airtable platforms. Earlier, as Creative Operations + Tools Advisor for Banana Republic Home, I architected a custom Airtable platform unifying planning, digital capture, creative review, retouching, and asset delivery at scale — 15,000+ assets across 8,000+ SKUs, integrating relational data models, advanced formula logic, automations, Zapier, Dropbox, Adobe AEM, and Shopify Enterprise into a unified operational interface. Before moving into systems-driven creative operations, I spent over a decade as a freelance Producer across agency and in-house environments, leading photography and video productions for global brands including Adidas, Ralph Lauren, Macy's, Banana Republic, and Old Navy. That foundation informs how I design systems for real-world production constraints — budgets, timelines, shifting priorities, external partners, and predictable human failure modes. Fluent in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese — and in the working dialects of creative, business, and technology teams.
apex solar kiss is my builder practice — design, product, and systems work that has run alongside my production career for more than a decade. The unifying thesis >> order from chaos // beauty in systems I build governed domain architectures for work where generative systems are useful but cannot be left to infer the rules. A deterministic governance architecture brackets the generative execution span: it encodes the decision-owner's intent, constraints, references, and judgment as explicit, portable structure while generation varies inside the bound. The result remains explainable, auditable, and governable. This is bounded generativity: define the grammar, permit bounded variance, make selection and governance explicit. The current portfolio includes method-ASK, control-surface, design-system-ASK, and two domain applications: asset-pipeline-ASK for commercial visual production and urban-observatory for public-planning implementation intelligence. As models and interfaces become increasingly replaceable, durable value moves to the encoding architecture that makes generative work answerable in its domain. The operating model is architect + domain authority. I design the architecture and encoding. The domain authority owns the substance and terminal judgment. In commercial visual production, I hold both roles. The work is open-source, with the method documented through an ongoing Substack series.
asymptotic system key is my artistic practice — natively digital art objects, still and motion, made by combining painting, photography, drawing, digital manipulation, and scripting. The work is abstract: minimal and monochrome set against rainbow and vivid, built from multiple inputs — artistic intent, physical gesture, and selection. Recurring themes are patterns, textures, dreamscapes, seriality, variation within repetition, and the color lavender — all circling one idea: order emerging from chaos. The physical gestures are often made with my wife Teresa, whose hand applies the materials and soundscapes; increasingly my son LeoV's drawings enter the process too. The lineage is minimalist and conceptual — Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt — and abstract photography, especially Barbara Kasten and Lyle Rexer's The Rise of Abstraction in Photography, alongside a probabilistic intellectual frame drawn from Nate Silver and Nassim Taleb: signal versus noise, antifragility. It is not commercial. It's the aesthetic and philosophical root system under everything else I make — the same order from chaos // beauty in systems that the building work later turns into structure.
Freelance production practice covering photography and video for premium and DTC brands, run as both a full-service production company and as white-label production for other agencies and production partners. Worked from brief through art buying — casting photographers, talent, locations, and vendors — through contracting, estimating, and budget management, into on-set production and delivery. The SF chapter also marked the pivot toward systems-driven creative operations. The Banana Republic Home advisory engagement (2023–2024) emerged from this practice and reframed how I approach creative production — from project-by-project execution to building the operational infrastructure that makes execution reliable at scale. Clients >> Apellis, Audemars Piguet, Banana Republic, Descente, Dockers, Huckberry, Nike, Old Navy, Terra Outdoor Living, Tuft&Needle, Vanity Fair Agencies >> Apostrophe Reps, Art Department, Baked Creative, Sarah Laird & Good Company Production companies >> 10 Ivy, Bauie Productions, First Light Production, LOLA Production Photographers >> Sang An, Mike Carreiro, Justin Chung, Adrian Gaut, Jack O'Connor, Stas May, Ericka McConnell, Landon McMahon, Ulysses Ortega, Cody Pickens, Lauren Segal, Carter Smith, Williams+Hirakawa, Arturo Torres, Ami Sioux, Matt Wright
Managed a high-volume e-commerce photography studio for Pottery Barn Kids and Teen — production planning, capacity scheduling, and budget control across interconnected Airtable platforms, leading the team and daily studio operations. Worked within an existing creative-operations architecture rather than building one, applying the same UX-centric, antifragile-systems lens from prior advisory work to the day-to-day reliability of a high-volume studio. Scope >> 3,000–4,000 assets/season; cross-functional coordination with merchandising, creative direction, and post-production.
Architected a custom Airtable platform unifying planning, digital capture, creative review, retouching, asset management, and asset delivery for Banana Republic's newly launched Home division. The system supported 15,000+ assets across 8,000+ SKUs, integrating relational data models, advanced formula logic, custom automations, Zapier, Dropbox, Adobe AEM, and Shopify Enterprise into a unified operational interface. Designed around user behavior to reduce ambiguity, lower cognitive load, and make production reliable at scale — replacing fragmented handoffs across merchandising, creative, photography, e-commerce, and web production with a single system of record. Stack >> Airtable platform (data models, interfaces, automations, scripting), Zapier, Dropbox, Adobe AEM, Shopify Enterprise.
Responsible for monthly brand marketing studio shoots budgeting + planning + art buying + casting + managing on-set production Supported art buying for Holiday Campaign Advised on design + structure of new Airtable platform to manage the brand's asset production flow Photographers >> Koto Bolofo, Nagi Sakai, Ben Weller, Matt Wright
Production of photography campaigns with top fashion photographers for important brands Production companies >> North Six, Shake Productions Photographers >> Steven Klein, Craig McDean, Mikael Jansson, Carter Smith, Alasdair McLellan, Brigitte Lacombe, Cedric Buchet, Paul Wetherell, among others Commercial >> Dolce & Gabbana, Tom Ford, Tommy Hilfiger, DKNY, Coach, Estee Lauder, Banana Republic, Gant, The Gap, among others Editorial >> Vogue, Interview, Harper's Bazaar, among others