The Creative Journey
Creative Beginnings
One sunny morning, just on the way out the door for school, Adri’s mother called out from the kitchen,
“I need a drawing for the article I’m sending out today. Can you sketch something quickly?”
There wasn’t time to think.
A black marker, a quick pen-and-ink sketch, paper handed over—and she was out the door.
It wasn’t until the magazine arrived later that she saw it again.
Her drawing, printed large on the page.
Something about that stayed.
In high school, the drawings became more fluid—pen and ink moving easily across the page, filling notebooks, appearing on school newspaper covers.
Sometimes classmates would pause, look a little longer than expected.
A few even asked if they could buy them.
European Influences
We lived in a brownstone in the heart of Brussels—an apartment tucked into the ground floor, shaped out of the larger building.
Each time we entered, we stepped in from the cobblestone street through an oversized black door into a dramatic open space—light streaming across a sweeping staircase leading upward.
And then, just as quickly, we would turn right into our apartment.
More contained. Less grand.
But that moment of arrival—the shift from street to space, from dim to light—left its mark.
Some time later, there was another kind of space.
My Dutch grandfather’s home: a cozy brick house with a lush garden and a retired pastry chef in residence.
Classical music was always playing.
Paintings in gold frames lined the walls.
He moved easily between things—piano, painting, baking—as if creativity simply belonged in the room.
Light came in differently here.
Through the dining room doors, with curtains lifting gently in the breeze.
Quieter. More intimate.
But just as present.
At the same time, I was stepping into something entirely new.
Canada, then Brussels. Back again.
And then—Holland.
Suddenly there were bold patterns and strong colour—what felt to me like dramatic, almost electric design. Hints of Marimekko. Shops, textures, details that felt alive in a different way.
Alongside it, my grandfather’s world remained—classical music, gold-framed paintings, his own quiet creativity moving between piano, canvas, and kitchen.
And then our own row house—more modern, more streamlined—while my mother began to explore her own sense of style within it.
Different expressions, all at once.
But the same underlying attention to how a place feels.
Ways of Seeing
Adri studied Fine Art at the University of Toronto, alongside summer courses in illustration, perspective, and logo design at the Ontario College of Art.
Later, she completed a Master’s in Communications/Journalism at Wheaton College Graduate School. Her studies moved between communication theory, writing, and media systems—and included time spent studying in both England and the Netherlands.
Photography entered more deliberately through continuing education at Conestoga College—initially as a way to document visual work, and gradually as its own practice.
Studio work, digital imaging, and post-processing added another layer: how light is captured, shaped, and translated.
Across these areas, a pattern began to form—
an interest not just in creating, but in how something is seen, interpreted, and experienced.
Shaping the Experience
For over seven years, Adri worked as a display designer and visual merchandiser for a multi-location bookstore.
The question was always the same:
how does someone understand what they’re looking at—before they’ve read a single word?
Displays became a kind of quiet storytelling.
Ideas were first sketched, then built—props sourced or made by hand, product arranged, light considered. And finally, the moment of stepping back to see if it held together.
For key events, the work extended further.
Product, pricing, and placement were considered together—what was being shown, how it was presented, and whether it would resonate.
When everything aligned, the result was clear.
People paused. Looked longer. Chose more easily.
The process was both creative and structured—
a constant movement between intuition and adjustment, shaping not just what was seen, but how it was experienced.
Stylist & Contributing Editor
As a visual merchandiser, much of Adri’s inspiration came from magazine photography. So, getting to work behind the scenes at Scrapbooking & Cards Today (SCT) Magazine – styling pages and working on photo shoots as a Contributing Design Editor was a thrill. How exciting…visualizing the scene, bringing it to life, hearing the “click” of the camera, viewing the result… if not right, repeat until perfect!
Adri also created a pirate theme for SCT, featuring her craft design of a pirate ship and her own backdrop painting. Other published projects with SCT include a two-page birthday party spread and several articles.
Adri’s papercrafts have also been published in Papercrafts Magazine.
Event Design & Management
Using Adri’s experience merchandising large spaces, sometimes as large as 10,000 sq. feet, Adri managed and designed events from a large international conference to smaller educationally focused ones. She incorporated a unique creative twist to each.
Sometimes it meant creating unique event signage by questioning what would be the most effective so that the attendees would be able to see the information quickly. For example, Adri would ask;
“Why do signs always have to be rectangular? What if they stand out against modern decor better if they are round?
At the event, it means paying attention to the little details such as small gifts designed to end each event memorably.
The result? A positive customer experience. Attendees feel welcome, cared for, and able to absorb what they are learning.
Where It Came Together
At the Laurier School of Business and Economics, something familiar began to take shape again.
Working on the website for the Laurier Executive Development Centre, Adri found herself doing what she had done years earlier—using images to support and extend the meaning of the words.
But now it was happening across an entire system.
Visual language carried from brochure to website to printed materials.
The same tone, the same cues, moving through each touchpoint.
It became clear that this wasn’t just design.
It was a way of thinking—how a person enters a space, what they notice first, how they move through it, and what stays with them afterward.
From there, web projects became a natural extension.
A place where structure, language, and atmosphere could come together in real time—
not just to present information, but to create clarity and connection.
“Watching my inner vision and wisps of ideas come into a visual form was the most amazing experience. Adri has the skill of capturing the essence of my needs and wishes and then delicately balancing that with what is possible – and then taking the whole thing to a new level I didn’t even know existed.”
Jennifer Davis
Playing With Sparks
Atmosphere
Where the Thread Leads Now
There has always been a quiet through-line in Adri’s work.
She notices what a space needs.
She brings order where things feel scattered.
She uses images and words to give a moment its shape.
Merchandising did this across large rooms.
Events did it with people in motion.
Websites did it in the digital world — guiding the eye, guiding the experience.
Over time, this way of seeing became more defined: atmosphere, presence, identity.
Not abstract ideas — simply the way a story settles when everything aligns.
Each phase became its own apprenticeship. She learned how a room speaks before anyone enters, how visuals shift the tone of a message, and how people move through an experience when it feels clear and intentional.
The thread stayed the same. It just kept moving forward.
What This Means for Adri’s Work Today
This foundation now anchors all of Adri’s creative work — the fine-art photography, the line-drawn places, the journals and cards, even the way she shapes a blog post or curates a quiet corner of Pinterest.
Each piece begins with the same principle: consider the space, shape the mood, create room to breathe.
Atmosphere as invitation.
Presence as orientation.
And in collaborative work, Adri brings that same steadiness. She can see how a project holds together — its pacing, its visuals, its tone — and help teams create work that feels coherent, human, and quietly welcoming.
This is where the strands converge.
Not a pivot, but a settling.
The architecture beneath everything becoming visible.