ABOUT

Hello! My name is Seth Gerke and I was born and raised in the city of Cincinnati and studied Industrial Design before earning an MBA at UC. This led me down the path of footwear design post-graduation, however, my 10+ years of experience in the soft-goods industry has led to a desire for a less-corporate and more human-focused creative pursuit. 

After being formally educated in the art of tattooing in California, I returned home to Ohio to continue building footwear remotely and focus more heavily on tattooing. I specializes in black and grey, traditional and turn of the century motifs. Favorite tattooers throughout history include Ed Hardy, Sutherland Macdonald, and Pinky Yun. 

 
 

DESIGN RESUME BELOW

 

 

W o r k

TEVA                                             Fall of 2018-25

- leadership, time management, major influence in developing projects, sketching/ideation, product / market insight, pattern revisions, tooling creation, visual branding and storytelling, quick turn around product creation for family channel, influencer, and performance markets, webbing pattern creation, hardware development, tech pack creation, Illustrator color CADs, 3D Modeling, 3D product rendering, factory visits, on-site product revision, material selection

VANS                                             Fall of 2016 & Summer of 2015

- key pattern revisions on developing products, conceptual development, sketching, ideation, pattern creation, jacquard print-making, tech pack creation, communication with developer teams, team-building activities, sample development, print-making in Adobe Illustrator, concept rendering in Photoshop

FRYE                                         Spring of 2016

- sketching & ideation, conceptual development, trend forecasting, pattern revisions, general organization of product, communication with developers, presentation, prototyping, sneaker design, rain boot design, tech pack creation

RANDA                                           Fall of 2014

- Adobe Illustrator rendering, tech pack creation, concept ideation, leather working, sketching, trend forecasting

 

E D U C A T I o N

Xavier University                 August 2017-2018

Emerging Leaders MBA Program

  • MBA                                 

University of Cincinnati DAAP    2012 -  2017

College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning       

  • BA Industrial Design                                

Mcnicholas High School                2008- 2012

 

 

 

S K I L L S

PHYSICAL - sketching, marker rendering, gouache painting, sewing, leather work, model-building, pattern-making, basketball, football, lacrosse, skateboarding, percussion, guitar, turntables, stage performance, interpersonal communication, machine tattooing  

DIGITAL - Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, Roman’s CAD, MODO, inDesign, Autodesk Alias, digital painting, graphic design, animation, pricing strategy, trend forecasting, profit maximization

 

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS:

  • Inventor of several patents within the Teva brand

  • helped to grow Teva’s overall margins by 2% in two years

  • played major role designing products within Teva’s highest grossing seasons

  • major contribution to establishment of Teva’s visual identity/design language

  • helped to establish the standard use of sustainably-focused materials in Teva’s inline product