Among Meredith Sand’s most popular designs is the Citrus Collection, a collaboration with artist Heather Dartez. The orange slice with green leaves has been reproduced on dish towels, canvas totes, wine bags and wrapping paper. | Courtesy Meredith Sand
It all began in 2021, with simple hand-stamp designs on notecards. Meredith Sand was on the hunt for a particular style of stationery; when she couldn’t find it, she decided to make her own.
Little did she know that her decision to buy a pack of blank cards and rubber stamps would lead to a multifaceted art business. When friends saw the notecards that she made, they asked if they could buy sets of their own.
Says Sand: “I started experimenting, and the more I did it the more I wanted my own art because I felt limited by the available stamps.” She would draw the design, trace it onto rubber and carve out the stamp—creating symbols that ranged from anchors and palm trees to fish and dragonflies.
Among her most popular is the Citrus Collection, a collaboration with artist Heather Dartez. An orange slice on a note-card morphed into an orange slice accompanied by green leaves in a pattern on dish towels. Then came canvas totes, wine bags and wrapping paper. Visit Orlando, the nonprofit association charged with promoting the City of Orlando to business and leisure travelers, soon adopted Sand’s designs to use in its branding campaigns.
Today, Meredith Sand Designs Studio and Gallery in the Milk District is a bustling place. Local artists who show their work at her gallery often team up with Sand to create collections of cards and textiles.
The most recent collaborator is Jessica Brackett, whose Emergence exhibition of paintings focused on plants and pollinators, and inspired the Butterflies and Blossoms Collection. Sand also hosts workshops with featured artists.
Thanks to the success of her gallery shows, Sand is now providing art for local businesses. Works that once graced her gallery walls are finding new homes in public places where people can see and buy them.
Meredith Sand Designs Studio and Gallery is located at 221 South Bumby Avenue, Orlando. For more information, visit meredithsanddesigns.com.
