Originally from Providence, Rhode Island, Shayna Kulik began her career working as a textile designer for Longina Phillips Design Studio in Sydney, Australia.  Relocating to New York in 2003, Kulik joined the design team at ES Originals.  She spent two years with the mass-market shoe manufacturer, conceptualizing a wide range of kicks for corporate accounts such as Target, Rampage, and OshKosh. Kulik went on to Playboy Enterprises where she worked as a product designer developing their accessories and menswear lines as well as managing brand control with the company’s global licensees.

Kulik now brings that unique perspective to clients including Bumble and Bumble, Elizabeth Arden, Marc Ecko, MTV and Panasonic through her design and trend forecasting studio, Pixel Rumor located in New York’s East Village.   Kulik is also founder and editor of Pattern Pulp, a web forum devoted to print and pattern design.

1.  How did you get started doing what you do?

Internships in New York, DC and Sydney laid the foundation for my interest in the commercial art world, and led to my first paying gig as a shoe designer.  Following a few more in-house roles, including a stint as a product designer for Playboy Enterprises, I founded Pixel Rumor.   Most recently I’ve started Pattern Pulp, a weblog that covers design, marketing and creative trends in the print and pattern worlds.

2.  What is your biggest joy and what is your biggest headache?

Biggest Joy:  Trend assignments that incorporate travel

Biggest Headache:  Tax season

 3.  Where do you spend most of your time online (business-wise)?

I hop around a lot, but the frequent reel includes: news sites like New York Times, Wall Street Journal; design and trend sites such as NOTCOT, Cool Hunting, QBN, ffffound; media professional sites like MediaPost and mediabistro; and any random link that gets forwarded to me throughout the day.

 4.  What is the one thing, person, service or resource you can’t do without?

  It’s a three-way tie between my camera, Wacom tablet, and passport

 5.  What do you wish someone had told you the day you started your business?

 Trust your gut with people, projects and goals - it will rarely fail you.