Joyce Kutty, Owner, Kutty Knives

Joyce Kutty, 31, is an Indian/Malaysian American artist born in Providence, RI. She received her BFA in Metals & Jewelry from Rhode Island College, and her Master of Design degree in Interior Architecture from Rhode Island School of Design.

Her work focuses on tradition and ceremony, using the culture of cooking as a way to speak about the richness of South/Southeast Asian bladesmithing and craft.

She also uses bladesmithing and craft as a vehicle for education and decolonization.
She states:
“The misinformation and false narratives around South/Southeast Asian traditional blades are meticulously woven and entangled with colonialism and the legacies that preside. Words like “primitave” and “barbaric” are nomenclatures given to traditional knives/cuisine from South/Southeast Asia, making the contemporary field of bladesmithing to be Whitefocused, Euro-typical, and more favorable towards East Asian makers. My hopes, through bladesmithing and craft, is to elevate our own and share our wealth of indigenous knowledge. We, too, are notable and worthy, and are distinguishable competitors.”

Kutty currently resides in Providence, Rhode Island, and has her studio and shop in Fall River, MA.

Marissa “Mars”, Senior UX Strategist, Lullabot

Marissa Epstein, CPACC, is a Senior User Experience Strategist at Lullabot. In former a life, she was a student of psychology, a packaging designer, a visual web designer, and an art director.

Today, Marissa solves complex UX and strategy problems with the distributed Lullabot team. Her clients include Mass.gov, Georgia.gov, and Harvard. She brings her passion for users and her organization skills to discovery, research, architecture, accessibility, responsive design, project management, and any other hat she gets to try on. Marissa can be found in her small home in Providence, RI, often with her huge dog, or a book, or both nearby.