C onve rsation
Photographs by BRIAN STEVENS
Styling by JUSTINA BLAKENEY
Gwendolyn Mason and Earnest
Merritt had a fairly straightforward goal
when they launched their design studio, Dear
Hancock, last year: “We wanted to be creative and paint all the time,” says Gwendolyn. The
pair—she grew up in New Hampshire, he in Ohio
—met in Los Angeles in the MFA program at
California Institute of the Arts.
Since those school days, Gwendolyn has worked
as a designer and an illustrator, and Earnest has
taught art and woodworking. Dear Hancock—
which specializes in hand-painted paper
goods such as greeting cards, stationery, prints,
calendars, and wrapping paper—is now her full-time job, while he continues to balance it with
teaching. Their designs are often a
collaborative effort. With the “Gigantic Sapphire on a Flat-bed” illustration, for example, Earnest did the truck
and Gwendolyn the sapphire it is transporting.
Gwendolyn Mason
and Earnest Merritt
share their home
with French bulldogs Tadpole and
Zoots.
In the couple’s L.A. bungalow, Dear Hancock
is ever present. In the dining room, Earnest and
Gwendolyn paint at two drawing tables that face
each other. The living room doubles as storage for
inventory as well as a packing station. Shipments
are prepared in the sunroom. “Our style is live/
work,” says Gwendolyn. “Heavy on the work.”
