ABout Us

We make things. Sometimes the hard way.

Escape Design Collective is a small creative studio in Potomac Shores, Virginia, built on a simple idea: good things are worth making well.

We work across materials rather than sticking to one: leather, glass, crystal, and textiles. Some pieces are cut and stitched by hand. Some are engraved with technology that lets us do what our hands can't. Some are shaped with fire.

How it started
Escape began with the two of us making things because we wanted to know how they were made. That curiosity got a little out of hand. One tool became several. Leatherworking crossed paths with engraving. Quilting joined stained glass. Then came crystal, glasswork, and a growing list of things we still want to learn.

Rather than force all of that into one category, we built a studio around it.

We don't believe handmade has to mean old-fashioned, or that technology has to make something feel mass-produced. The interesting part is what happens when you use both.

The makers
David Morris, Co-Founder & Creative Director
Derek Gebelhardt, Co-Founder & Studio Director

The mark
The two L's in our logo are for Lillie and Leo. They were our entire world, loved hard and protected fiercely. Their mark goes on everything we make. It's small by design. But it means everything to us.

Coming soon: classes
We're opening the studio for small, hands-on workshops, starting with stained glass and small leather goods, with torchworked glass to follow. The goal is a place to try something unfamiliar, make something you're proud of, and maybe find out you're capable of more than you thought.

Until then, we'll be in the studio, occasionally ruining perfectly good materials in the name of figuring something out.