A Studio With a Love for All Things California

Coyote brush, our namesake plant, is a hardy shrub native to California that takes root in difficult soils and allows other plants, like oak trees and sages to establish themselves. It grows on sunny hillsides and canyons, in grasslands, oak woodlands, coastal and chaparral habitats. It's the plant that we see when we look out our studio windows.

Tina Curiel (artist and owner) and Lindsey Moore (graphic designer and operations manager) work together as the Coyote Brush Studios team. Tina creates the watercolor illustrations and ideas for how she wants things designed and Lindsey helps make these ideas a reality. We also get incredible support from Tina’s two sisters, our “coyotes in training.” Together we make handmade products that are well designed, as sustainably made as possible (using recycled or reused materials whenever we can) that are also informative. A portion of the profits are also donated to different California charities to ensure that California remains a place of wonder for future generations.

Each project is a labor of love, from researching to illustrating the biodiversity of California to designing the finished products. Our research takes many forms: reading new and old natural history books, traveling across the state, visiting museums and sketching from their collections, and taking classes on the natural history of the Bay Area. Tina gathers all of her own reference photos and then spends hours painting the watercolor illustrations that are scanned and used in each project. We then get to share our research with others in the form of fun facts and information booklets that accompany the products.

Similar to how coyote brush allows other plants to take root, through informative and well-designed products we strive to empower the minds of California to grow. The more we know about the plants and animals that surround us, the better we will be able to understand and ultimately protect them. Join us in spreading a love of locality and the state of California.