The Origin Of Refinery Nine.
Why "Refinery Nine"? - what's in a name
Fair question. Let's get into it.
Start with the nine. In a lot of old traditions, nine is the number of creative energy — the full cycle, the thing that's been through every stage and come out whole. I didn't pick it to be mystical about it. I picked it because that's the actual job. Creative energy is the raw material, and everybody's got it — your business has it in spades. That's why you started the thing.
But raw creative energy on its own is a mess. Forty browser tabs, a logo your cousin's neighbor's kid made in 2019, three fonts fighting each other, a "brand" that means something different on every platform. Potential with no shape.
That's the refinery part. A refinery doesn't invent the raw material — it takes what's already there and turns it into something clean, valuable, and built to last. Crude goes in; something high-octane comes out. Subtlety's overrated.
Start with the nine. In a lot of old traditions, nine is the number of creative energy — the full cycle, the thing that's been through every stage and come out whole. I didn't pick it to be mystical about it. I picked it because that's the actual job. Creative energy is the raw material, and everybody's got it.
But raw creative energy on its own is a mess. Forty browser tabs, a logo your cousin's neighbor's kid made in 2019, three fonts fighting each other, a "brand" that means something different on every platform. Potential with no shape.
That's the refinery part. A refinery doesn't invent the raw material — it takes what's already there and turns it into something clean, valuable, and built to last. Crude goes in; something high-octane comes out. Subtlety's overrated.
Refinery
What's in a name....
Rooted in the Hudson Valley.
Working everywhere.
I'm a New Yorker with Rockland County roots and a big Italian family, based in the Hudson Valley. I'm proud to work with local businesses who deserve branding as good as what the big-city studios put out — and I work with clients everywhere else, too.
The person behind the templates
Good design.
No drama.
Designer, brand strategist, and the entire team here at Refinery Nine — which means when you work with me, you work with me. No account managers, no handoffs, no game of telephone between the person you talked to and the person doing the work.
I'm a New Yorker to the core: direct, a little sassy, allergic to fluff. I've spent two decades in design learning what actually makes a brand land — and, just as importantly, what to leave out. Because good design isn't about adding more. It's about refining down to what's true and making it impossible to ignore.
I have a BA in Visual Arts/Graphic Design Specialization and have spent almost two decades of design experience inside "Corporate America" — the kind where your work passes through six hands before it reaches a client, and somewhere along the way the point gets lost. I learned everything there. I also learned exactly how I didn't want to work.
So I left and built Refinery Nine to be the opposite of all that: clear thinking, sharp typography, and a process that doesn't make you want to lie down in a dark room. One designer who sees the whole picture, does the whole job, and hands you back something that actually looks like the business you've been running in your head.
Good design. No drama. That's not a tagline I bolted on later — it's the whole reason the studio exists.
Maria C. Walls
Brand Strategist + Designer
What that looks like for you
Whether you want an editorial Showit template you can run with yourself or a fully custom brand built from the ground up, the process is the same: take the raw thing, refine it, hand you back a brand system that holds up.
I'm the only Showit specialist working in the Hudson Valley — which means you get true design freedom and a site you can actually update yourself, without a developer on retainer. You get an editorial, custom-looking brand. You keep the keys.
And you'll always know what you're getting: clear pricing, clear deliverables, clear timelines. That's just how I'd want to be treated.
Organizations I support
