Curious Creative was founded in 2023 by Z and Grace Manuel with a shared belief: good design should be intelligent, inviting, and never take itself too seriously.
The studio grew out of a love for making, thinking with our hands, asking better questions, and poking at ideas until they do something interesting. We work across products, interiors, and strategy, guided by curiosity and a deep respect for materials, people, and place.
Together, we challenge assumptions, connect unlikely dots, and design experiences that feel purposeful, personal, and built to last, plus a little joy, just because.
OUR studio story
Curiosity over convention
Playfulness with purpose
Sustainability as standard
Design that invites, not intimidates
Details that make you smile
Z MANUEL
Z leads the studio full time and brings a multidisciplinary approach fueled by curiosity, craft, and a healthy disregard for doing things “the usual way.”
With experience spanning product, furniture, and interior environments, Z has taken ideas from loose sketches to fully realized designs, always thinking about how things are made, how they’re used, and how they feel. A lifelong instinct to build, tinker, and experiment shapes a practice rooted in joy, material honesty, and thoughtful problem-solving.
Z sees the world with childlike wonder (in the best way). Color, play, and confidence are never far from the work, and their easy, open energy puts collaborators instantly at ease. Alongside the studio, Z teaches furniture and sketching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, staying connected to fresh perspectives, emerging voices, and the next generation of rule-benders.
GRACE MANUEL
Grace brings the big-picture thinking and then happily zooms all the way in. With experience spanning product, graphics, retail, advertising, interiors and sustainability, Grace thrives on complexity. She’s a lifelong learner with a soft spot for a good puzzle, especially the kind that asks design to solve real problems. Systems thinking and sustainability guide her approach, ensuring every decision holds up not just now, but over time.
She has a sharp eye for color, material, and light, with a sense for how small shifts can change the whole mood. She tests, tweaks, and trusts her gut, mixing elements until everything feels balanced, intentional, and effortless. When it clicks, it really clicks.
In addition to her practice, Grace teaches industrial design at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, keeping curiosity at the center of the work and design firmly rooted in conversation, experimentation, and continuous learning.
SEEN AND HEARD
NeoCon Best of Year Benches and Stools, 2023
Djembe Product Development at Martin Brattrud
HiP Award, 2023
Djembe Product Development at Martin Brattrud
Innovation Magazine Publication, 2024
Amplifying Design through Sustainability