Throughout her entrepreneurial career, Emily Rye has specialized in identity design and branding for arts, culture and education nonprofits. Clients range from after-school arts programs and public libraries to universities and multinational health organizations. She is passionate about working with local small businesses and mission-based clients, believing high-quality design should be accessible to all.

Rye creates a lasting sense of curiosity in her students by encouraging them to trust their instincts while challenging their assumptions through observation, exploration and form-making. Through her mentorship, Rye introduces the idea that agency can be a verb, not just a noun, in one’s design practice.

Maintaining her ancestral roots in pottery, weaving and geology, Rye has an active ceramics and metalworking practice where she reimagines our lived connection to objects. She is a hands-on maker with one eye on the silence of design and the other on the exuberance of natural elements. Her work has been exhibited throughout the area, and she participates in the juried alumni show RISD Craft.