SCHESSA GARBUTT

Schessa (they/them) is a first-generation Belizean-American artist & designer living in Inglewood, CA on unceded Tongva land. They are the founder of Firebrand Creative House, providing design and creative direction for activists and social impact organizations. Their art seeks to locate the past in the present and reveres dreaming as a sacred form of symbol seeing and interpretation.

They tell stories of the past, present, and future through carefully-researched visual and craft histories which they incorporate into their design work. Their practice transcends mediums—combining intuition, type, illustration and UX in print and digital design 2020, they founded Firebrand Creative House, a design studio that works alongside activists, non-profits, and small business owners. They’ve created in collaboration with Art + Practice, Target, One Institute, Mindfulness for the People, The California Endowment, Black Wealth Data Center, and more. Recently, they began teaching at Type Electives, bringing a Black, queer, and intersectional lens to type history and theory. They are a published essayist (recently in The Black Experience in Design anthology) and lecturer, speaking on diversifying design history and co-design practices at universities and organizations such as IDEO, SF Design Week, Where are the Black Designers, and Adobe’s Wireframe podcast.

Schessa holds a B.A. in Design from the University of Southern California, and a certificate in Type Design from Type West.

“We have the power to create the world we want to live in. It’s important now more than ever that queer, trans, and BIPOC creatives make sure that our cultures, histories, and futures are not forgotten.”