9 Creative Couples and Partners Who Make Amazing Things

Sharing like interests can be the quickest way to forging friendships, cementing relationships and fostering businesses. We’ve pulled together a list of some of our favorite creative couples and partners who are building bridges with design and gardening, sourcing and repurposing discarded materials, and illustrating and illuminating connections with others around the globe.

1. Hemlock & Heather

Austin-based couple Kris and Kelley Denby are hardcore Texans who love their state so much that they hate to see anything from it go to waste. They create their numbered, custom-made wall hangings from scrap wood from castaway furniture and farm debris.

2. Colectivo 1050º

Diego Mier y Teran and Kythzia Barrera co-founded this collective of designers and artisans in Oaxaca, Mexico. Colectivo 1050º works with 45 artisans in seven villages, and serves as the commercial branch of the nonprofit sustainable design project Innovando la Tradición ac. This collective produces high-quality, functional products – all of which are created with sustainable design in mind.

3. Pilot & Captain

What originally started out as a side project by Jason Kernevich and Dusty Summers of The Heads of State has turned into a full-blown retail outlet. Stocking travel posters, coffee mugs and their famous airport code tees, Pilot & Captain continues to grow and expand – and for good reason. Want an airport code tee for your city? Pilot & Captain will let you help decide with their voting feature. See? We knew you’d like these guys.

4. The Horticult

Chantal Aida Gordon and Ryan Benoit, married NYC transplants, work their respective jobs as writer and engineer by day and blog about their San Diego-area garden by night (and weekends). Their outdoor furniture projects, public garden excursions and love of all things vegetative means there’s an endless supply of topics for their readers and followers.

5. Sugar Knife

“Candy for the cool kids” is how Jenna Keys and Josh Gillespie sum up their Oakland-based business. Even though their marshmallows and brittle have a bit of booze to liven the mood and add flavor, they take being a part of the local maker community very seriously.

6. Coral & Tusk

Natural artifacts, world travels and native cultures influence the embroidered products that Stephanie Housley creates. She and her husband, Chris Lacinak, make up the creative couple of Coral & Tusk. Their pillows, linens and dolls get their start with Stephanie’s illustrations, which are then transposed, machine-embroidered and hand-finished in her Brooklyn studio.

7. Glen Ellen Star

Nestled in the Northern California wine country, this tiny, cottage-inspired, farm-to-table restaurant is run by Chef Ari Weiswasser and Erinn Benziger-Weiswasser. Like other creative couples and partners, Ari and Erinn tend to tasks that suit their strong points—food and wine. Most of the menu is sourced nearby, with much of the produce coming from Erinn’s family winery gardens at Benziger Winery.

8. Holly Wales & Stephen Smith

London-based creative couple Holly Wales and Stephen Smith work separately, but their collective love for art and design fuels their individual endeavors in illustration and art. Each has a unique aesthetic, yet they are aligned in spirit and space.

9. Kings County Distillery

New York has a long history with distilled spirits, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that the city became reacquainted with its illicit Whisky Wars past. Friends and founding partners David Haskell and Colin Spoelman meticulously create small-batch moonshine and whiskey in a repurposed Navy Yard building using responsibly grown organic corn from New York’s Lakeview Organic Grains.Portions of this post were sponsored by businesses DesignGood very much believes in and is happy to work with. Thank you for supporting those that help keep DesignGood going. If you have any questions, contact us @designgoodnow