Hey hey! Nice to meet you :)
I’m Ivy, the founder of Hardpour Designs. This is the story of how my company came to be…
My interest in learning about wine and alcoholic beverages started when I was 18, and I decided that I was going to move to Dublin, Ireland instead of finishing high school. I figured that if I was going to be serious about alcohol, I might as well do it in the country that is known for drinking it- so I packed my bags and left. I lived in Europe on and off for a year, working for Jameson and Teeling, and then got pulled back to the US to work for NASA.
A nerd at heart, and a lover of all things math, I worked at JPL in their Human Centered Design department over the course of the next two years and even got to help with aspects of the recent Mars 2020 mission.
While NASA was incredible, I knew deep down I wanted to stay in the beverage industry. I ended up moving to Seattle where I worked nights as a sommelier while completing my design and engineering degree at UW.
My engineering background, coupled with my love and understanding of the beverage industry, shone a light on the need for accessible, modern tech in the wine world.
And so Hardpour Designs was born in 2020.
I currently live on Orcas Island, WA, a small island close to Canada. I helped open a wine bar here last year, and the island is a great place to balance screen time with time outdoors- while being just close enough to Washington and Oregon wine country so that I can be anywhere within a day.