Elyse is a creative director with a background in graphic design who has worked in the branding and photography spaces for the past decade. At the root of her career is a love for people and finding ways to express their story visually.

Since she was a child, she has eagerly explored every creative outlet available to her, and in her career has often found herself in the role of the “newbie,” expanding on areas of her formal design training to learn new skills. She has done work as an in-house and freelance designer, commercial prop stylist, photographer, illustrator, strategist, and creative director.

Elyse’s lifelong-learner attitude applies to sewing, too; she considers herself a novice sewer with a long-forgotten teenage Singer sewing class and two small projects under her belt. Inspired by the idea of bringing original designs in her mind to life, she dusted off an old, gifted sewing machine and got to work. She’s so grateful to be able to continue to strengthen her sewing abilities through the hat projects that have pushed her to start sewing.

Elyse pulls in her professional experience designing brand assets, fabricating, and concepting ideas into this business. She has also been a passionate supporter of small businesses and is thrilled to be creating one of her own.

Laura is the fashion and sewing expert of Founta Well. She is a fashion designer with an unconventional background; after getting an advanced degree and working in the healthcare space, she realized her heart was in fashion, so she returned to school for fashion design and hasn’t looked back. 

Before starting her fashion design program, she took a role with a local theater’s costume department with her mentor and fashion history teacher. While in fashion school she got an internship at a costume shop in Los Angeles, and later started working there full time, learning all about corset construction, cosplay and movie costumes, cutting, and sewing.

Making hat patterns is not her first experience selling products – she also is the owner and designer of a popular plush accessories product line called Smol Planet. Some of her other past projects have included: children’s wear and Halloween costumes, athletic apparel, illustrated fabrics, tech printed processes, extraplanetary inhabitant apparel and character development, and extinct animals made from repurposed materials.

With this role, Laura brings in a curiosity to explore how things are made, a love of teaching, and passion for different fashion styles. She continues to refine her skillsets in construction and toolbox of techniques and is excited to share them with you as her expertise continues to evolve!