I started Studio AKA with a simple goal – to create landscapes that make people feel more connected. Landscapes define our memories; here’s one of mine:

In front of me in our neighborhood park, my mom is knee deep in the pond. She has a plastic bag over her arms and she is bent over, reaching into the water. The water shimmers – it’s a silver brown sludge that as a five year old, I do not want to touch and yet my mom stands in it as if it were as clean and clear as milk. My sister and I are on the grassy bank, under the shade of a weeping willow. The wind tickles the tree and it dances, teasing us. Under its boughs, we’re playing in a willow cathedral, its soaring ceiling so dense the sun’s rays only reach us as shimmering spots, ever moving. The breeze smells of summer; grass drying in the sun, sweat, and the fermented ooze of the pond. My mom walks back up to the shore with her plastic bag full. We run over, holding our breath to see if she has captured what she promised. She opens the bag. My sister squeals. Little black tadpoles are darting in a panic around the surface. We walk back to the car, the mud drying on my mom’s legs, and our treasure tightly between us. Before we are home we have already imagined the frogs they will become.

At Studio AKA we hope to create the spaces where you will forge your most important memories.