Julia Kaufman

Design Director, Sepia Studio

Briefly describe your day to day duties.

Each day is definitely a little different – but mainly includes managing the overall production workload to make sure deadlines are being met. Sometimes can include a bit of quality control, process analyzing, and allocating shop resources!

What is your favorite video game / board game?

My favorite game is Chameleon – it’s more like a dice/card game! One person is the chosen as chameleon at random and has to fool the group into thinking they are not the chameleon. Lot’s of laughs, wordplay, and best enjoyed with a drink in hand.

If you could see any band in concert, at any point in history, who would it be?

I would see Phoenix!

What hobbies do you have that help you stay productive outside of work?

Oh, way way too many hobbies: home improvement, DIY projects, gardening, oil painting, binge watching shows on Netflix, cooking, reading

Describe your perfect Saturday.

It most definitely starts with a quick morning walk with the pups to Brew Brew (my fav neighborhood coffee shop). Some lounging around in the backyard, maybe some reading, maybe some painting. Dinner out with my beau and friends. Almost always ends with wine or margaritas!

What is your most used emoji?

It’s probably  ✨

All-time favorite movie?

The Tourist!

If you could sell/produce more of any service we offer, what would it be and why?

I wish we could sell more graphics for brick application. When it’s produced, the panels are flat and ordinary, but I’m obsessed with the way that the material conforms to the brick once installed. It is such a cool exterior application.

What’s your favorite thing to produce / or see being produced in the shop?

My favorite thing to see produced in the shop is my own work! Haha but truly – from bus wraps to environmental graphics – seeing something you slaved over go from computer to production gives me life.

What made you choose your current career?

Truly, I have no idea – I started down a path of fine art in college, decided to switch to graphic design, and stumbled into a college print shop job. What I do know is that I so enjoy creating graphics, thinking about design and spaces, having a hand in the actual production, and collaborating with others.

If your coworkers had to vote you best, most improved, or most likely to do something, what would it be?

Oh god – they would probably vote me something lame like “most likely to work late”

What’s something you’ve learned since joining the Cushing team?

When I think about all I’ve learned since joining the team, I realized that I truly didn’t know anything when I first started. I’ve learned so much about teamwork, how to design for print, how to encourage others to design for print, and how to creatively solve problems.

What motivates you to go to work each day?

Coworkers, problem-solving, personal drive, and need for creativity.

Most interesting or funniest thing that’s happened since you’ve been at Cushing?

Ok… this is crazy. One time, a coworker of mine had opened a box up from a vendor we sourced something from, and there was a chunk of fingertip in there! We called them up right away…”uhh is someone missing a finger…?” – low and behold, they had been looking all over for it. It wasn’t gruesome – but something I’ll never ever forget.