My long career as a graphic designer began in the Midwest two weeks before graduating high school in 1983. I spent half of my junior and senior years in Commercial Art studies a vocational school and was hired into the art department of an advertising agency just before graduating. Four years later I promoted to Senior Art Director and later moved to another, much larger agency. Ultimately I landed on the West Coast and started my own design firm, Holden & Company, in Santa Rosa, California, specializing in wine and food branding, packaging and promotion. Years later, babies came into our lives and I whittled my work down substantially in order to stay at home with them. I focused my work on the niche of design I do best- logos.
After many successful years creating brands for others, I ventured out into new territory- professional crafting, and created the blog you are reading now. I slowly gave up logo design to focus on craft industry work, but just recently decided to put my designer hat on once again and take on logo design work in addition to my crafty ventures. After all, in one year each of those babies will be off to college and every little bit of extra income will help.
Below is a large sampling of logo work I have done for a wide variety of clients, with a few testimonies to follow. If you looking for new branding, you can learn more about my process and rates on the INFO page of HomeGrownLogos.com. You can contact me via email through the website. In addition, I’ll soon be updating my design blog over at Farm Fresh Creative, so if you’re a designer, check there often for good stuff.
Home Grown Logos Client Testimonials
“Cathe did a wonderful job creating the now iconic Van Leeuwen logo. Aside from the tremendous result, working with Cathe was a pleasure. She was always extremely professional, responsive and met every deadline, generally unheard of in this business.”
Ben Van Leeuwen
Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream
Brooklyn, NY
“I found some of Cathe’s artwork by accident on internet. Loved the style from the first moment on. Our company decided to work with Cathe for a few logo designs. The results are fantastic and she met our requirements after the first short briefing.”
Toni Götz
iMusicnetwork (Brands: Paramount, Nautilus)
Kirchheim, GERMANY
“I have worked with Cathe Holden creating two completely different brands. Both brands have been a big success, and a part of what makes a good brand starts with the logo. With one brand I had the name and Cathe created a logo that truly captured what my vision was. Simple, classy and two colors. And of course that it looked like it had been around forever. The second brand we brain stormed and came up the the name and the look together and this time only using black and white. Again timeless. If you want a professional logo at an extremely fair price, Cathe Holden is your logo designer!”
Catherine Bergen, President
C CASA and Cate & Co.
Napa, CA
“It was an absolute pleasure to work with Cathe on our brand identity for both PARATVS Cigars and COR DEO Wine. Her design aesthetic was exactly what we were looking for. She is a talented artist who very much understands the perspective of the client and can help guide and articulate those needs — with great care and attention — into stunning designs. She’s responsive, approachable and really understands the fluidity of the logo design process. She makes the client feel comfortable along the way and does a great job communicating her ideas. Working with Cathe was very synergistic and educational as well. We’ve received numerous compliments on our branding program and she’s brought to life our passion for cigars and wine.”
Thomas S. Kim, President
Thomas Capitol Partners, Inc.
Washington, DC
