Photo by Yuvie Styles
East Dallas neighbor Audrey Hanna has a vision for everything. Even though she graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism, her self-taught Photoshop skills are what pay the bills.
She started her interior decor brand, Auds and Ends, in college, targeting dorm rooms. Now, she’s moving her business towards a sleeker, more refined interior style. Most recently, Hanna designed the digital rendering for an experiential new hotel concept from Norwegian DJ Kygo, to be located in Miami. The hotel and her design were featured in Forbes.
Hanna has established Auds and Ends enough to do it full time. At just 24 years old, there’s no ceiling for her brand, and no ceiling that her work can’t be displayed under.
How did Auds and Ends start?
There was a trend going around of people’s colleges with little graphics and then your major on it. I made prints for my school, like we won the national championship in basketball. I put a trophy and ‘national champions,’ and they all kind of match together. I put all those on my Etsy because so many people from my school were wanting them. Obviously that trend went away, but from there at least I had some sales and reviews for credibility. Then I started doing more Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and really looking into what was getting popular.
You seem to be pretty engrossed in the business end of your art. Was that something that was natural or did you teach yourself?
I definitely like having an entrepreneur mindset. My first Etsy username was ‘audreypreneur.’ I really like the business aspect, I was a business minor.
Do you see Auds and Ends as an interior decor brand?
Yes, I would say most of it. Or gifts. All my stuff is very colorful and girly. I love 3D stuff too. Randomly, the one thing I can’t do is sit down and draw a person or a face. I could do it on my iPad or Photoshop, but that’s not what people come to me for.
The home decor space is probably hard to break into, especially as an independent, right?
I think luckily, with my niche, I have followed my age group. I’ve done things for people that I would want in my dorm. I think as I get older, the dorm stuff will slow down and then things that are a bit nicer and more complex can be in people’s houses. I try to follow the times.
You recently did a design for a destination hotel in Miami. How did you get that opportunity?
A couple months ago, this realtor for the hotel said she really liked my website and sent me an inquiry. I called her, and it sounded like a really small project. Then we started doing it and she had me do a rendering of what the whole hotel is gonna look like. That was brand new to me.
They had a blueprint, I had to turn it into what it’s gonna look like. It was a lot. I textured every little wall and made everything all digital. It did take forever, I worked 72 hours total on it. I didn’t know where it was going, then I just woke up the next morning and she sent me the link that it was in Forbes.
How did you even know that you could do that?
I don’t know! If I knew what this was going to be before, I probably would have said no, because I wouldn’t think that I was capable of doing that.
Do you ever have time to do projects for yourself?
It’s really hard for me to design something for myself. I feel like my brain just doesn’t stop with ideas that I can’t choose one thing that I want to do.
You’re almost like a one-woman factory.
That’s the way I’ve always seen it. I just really like being able to see other people’s vision come to life. I remember how happy I was when people would send me photos of their order and say, ‘I love it so much.’ I’m so happy to think that it’s in your house, you look at it, and I made it
