Right Work Stories – Susan Pate designer

Drew Kelly for The Wall Street Journal  Susan Pate, in her San Francisco studio, turns soil samples from wineries into paint for color inspiration.  Ms. Pate, a youthful sexagenarian, then brings her natural treasures back to San Francisco, where her design studio is based. By mixing the soil samples with water, she creates a rough form of paint, which she brushes onto watercolor paper. Matching the reddish, burnt-orange and ocher soils to paint chips,

Susan Pate in her San Francisco office. Taken by Drew Kelly for The Wall Street Journal

Susan Pate is the creative genius who designed the book cover for Finding Right Work. Clearly she is a demonstration of one who has found her right work.

Her work as a wine-label designer was featured in a Wall Street Journal – US Edition  article on February 23, 2013 entitled Images for Wine in Down-to-Earth Designs.  Enjoy reading how she digs for inspiration in the dirt among the vineyards.

“She starts by examining the terroir—a French term for the environment in which wine is produced, including soil, topography and climate. At her client’s vineyards, she collects soil samples, rocks, twigs, vines, weathered wood from an old barn and anything else she thinks might help her remember the property’s unique qualities.”

 Read the complete article at Images for Wine in Down-to-Earth Designs.

Finding Right Work: Five Steps to a Life you Love by Leni Miller