Joan Hantz
Founder, Principal, Creative Director
Joan doesn’t allow the obligations of running the place and overseeing all the work to interfere with producing great designs for clients (or taking digital self-portraits with a camera held at arm’s length). Her latest projects involve innovative work for Xerox, the University of Connecticut, Hampshire College, the George Eastman House, and Microwave Data Systems.
A graduate of Bennington College with a master’s degree from the University of Michigan, Joan began her design career in Ann Arbor and moved it to Rochester, NY. She started her own design firm, Joan Hantz Design, in 1981. After hiring more designers to handle a burgeoning workload, she moved the business into a Victorian House on Windsor Street in the city’s fashionable East End, and WSDA was born.
After hours, Joan spends time with her family, and designs and builds furniture in her basement workshop.