Visual Merchandising & Retail Design

Paulina
Peña

Retail Design Visual Merchandising Strategy Store Planning & Environments Bay Area, CA

Industrial designer with over a decade of experience collaborating on visual merchandising and store design for global brands — from concept through fabrication and installation.

Previously at Levi Strauss & Co. and L'Oréal México, working with brands including Giorgio Armani, Viktor & Rolf, Kiehl's, and Ralph Lauren. Master's in Commercial & Retail Design, Elisava Barcelona.

Based in the Bay Area. Permanent resident, fully authorized to work in the US.

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Selected Work

Retail environments
from brief to build.

A decade of translating global brand identities into physical retail spaces — coordinating design, production, vendors, and installation across Mexico's leading department stores and global brand programs.

Levi's 1
Levi's 2
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01 — Brand Environments

Global Retail Rollout

Levi Strauss & Co.
Brand Environments

Developed and executed physical brand environments across Mexico — from initial concept through fabrication and installation. Coordinated seasonal campaigns, store openings, and fixture programs with fabricators and suppliers, maintaining alignment with Levi's worldwide brand standards.

Managed full production cycle: materials, timelines, quality control, and store visits to verify brand integrity across all touchpoints.

Brand Environments Store Openings Fabrication Coordination Global Standards 2018–2022
L'Oréal 1
L'Oréal 2
L'Oréal 3
L'Oréal 4
L'Oréal 5
L'Oréal 6
L'Oréal 7
L'Oréal 8
L'Oréal 9
L'Oréal 10

02 — Visual Merchandising

Luxury Retail Environments

L'Oréal México
Luxury Brand Spaces

Led design and implementation of shop-in-shop environments for luxury brands across Liverpool and Palacio de Hierro. Managed the full production cycle — spatial concept, 3D development, custom fixture design, vendor coordination, and on-site installation.

Brands: Giorgio Armani · Viktor & Rolf · Kiehl's · Ralph Lauren · Yves Saint Laurent · Biotherm · Clarisonic.

Shop-in-Shop Fixture Design 3D Development Vendor Management 2013–2018
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Object 9

Product Design

Object Studies
Sketch to Fabrication

Self-initiated furniture and objects developed from sketch through construction documentation and fabrication. Monterrey Desk, Amsterdam Planters, Vinyl Storage Shelf, Rack & Shelf, Huanacaxtle Sideboard — each taken from hand drawing to dimensioned plan to built piece.

Industrial Design Technical Drawing Fabrication
Craft 1
Craft 2
Craft 3
Craft 4
Craft 5
Craft 6

Material Exploration

Craft Practice
Material & Construction

Ongoing exploration of materials and construction — leatherwork, waxed canvas, paper art. Each piece designed and built from scratch: sketch, pattern, material selection, construction, finish. The same systematic process thinking applied to professional work.

Leathercraft Waxed Canvas Paper Art Pattern Making
How I Work

From creative brief
to built environment.

01 — Strategy

Brief & Vision

Translating brand identity and commercial objectives into clear spatial strategies. Aligning creative direction with business goals across cross-functional teams.

02 — Design

Concept & Development

Developing spatial concepts from sketch through 3D documentation. Creating fixture specifications, planograms, and design kits used by installation teams worldwide.

03 — Production

Fabrication & Coordination

Managing vendors, fabricators, and timelines. Overseeing materials, budget, and quality — from prototype review to final delivery.

04 — Install

Execution & Alignment

On-site store visits, prototype reviews, and leadership alignment. Ensuring global brand standards are met at every touchpoint in every market.

Journal

Making things.
Always.

Between relocating to the Bay Area and settling into a new city, I kept my hands busy. West Valley College for garment construction and pattern making. Leather goods sold at craft markets back in Mexico City. Embroidery, objects, textiles — a parallel practice that never really stopped.

Garment 1
Garment 2
Garment 3
Garment 4
Garment 5
Garment 6
Garment 7
Garment 8
Garment 9
Garment 10
Garment 11
Garment 12
Garment 13
Garment 14
Garment 15

2023–2025 · West Valley College, Saratoga CA

Garment Construction
& Pattern Making

Formal coursework in construction, pattern making, and couture embellishment — learning the technical language of garments with the same systematic thinking applied to retail environments for a decade.

ConstructionPattern MakingCouture
Cut N Stitch 1
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Cut N Stitch 4
Cut N Stitch 5
Cut N Stitch 6
Cut N Stitch 7
Cut N Stitch 8
Cut N Stitch 9
Cut N Stitch 10
Cut N Stitch 11
Cut N Stitch 12

2020–2022 · Cut 'N Stitch, Mexico City

Leather, Textiles
& Craft Markets

From quilting to leatherwork — bags, accessories, and textile pieces sold at craft markets in Mexico City. This practice became formal enough to name: Cut 'N Stitch.

LeathercraftTextilesCraft Markets
Embroidery 1
Embroidery 2
Embroidery 3
Embroidery 4
Embroidery 5
Embroidery 6
Embroidery 7

2023–Present · Bay Area

Embroidery &
Ongoing Sewing Practice

Embroidery, couture embellishment, garment construction — an ongoing practice of making that runs parallel to professional work and keeps material thinking direct and hands-on.

EmbroideryCoutureSewing
About

Designer.
Collaborator.
Maker.

I'm an industrial designer from Mexico City, with a background in physical retail environments and store design. For over a decade I've collaborated with visual merchandising and store design teams at global brands — supporting everything from translating concepts and adapting them to local market requirements, through to fabrication coordination and installation.

I enjoy the challenge of finding solutions as they come up — the technical problems, the vendor constraints, the things that don't quite work until you figure them out on site. Getting a space from drawing to built reality takes a certain kind of attention, and that's the part I care most about.

In parallel, I make things. Furniture, leather goods, garments — work that keeps my understanding of materials and construction direct and hands-on. After relocating to the Bay Area, I deepened this through formal coursework in garment design, construction and pattern making at West Valley College.

Detail and process matter to me — in every project, at every scale.

Experience & Education

Recognition

2013

Best Store Design — REC Experimental StoresElisava School of Design, Barcelona

2009

Best Academic Performance AwardUniversidad Autónoma Metropolitana

Capabilities

Retail & Environments

  • Visual merchandising strategy
  • Shop-in-shop & fixture design
  • Store planning & layout
  • Brand standards & local adaptation
  • Planograms & manuals
  • Customer journey design

Production & Process

  • Vendor & fabricator management
  • Production coordination
  • Budget management
  • Installation supervision
  • Cross-functional collaboration
  • Global standards & local implementation

Design & Making

  • Technical drawing & documentation
  • 3D spatial development
  • Prototype & sample making
  • Garment construction
  • Pattern making
  • Leathercraft & material work

Software & Languages

  • SketchUp
  • AutoCAD (basic)
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Spanish (native)
  • English (professional)

Let's work
together.

Emailhello@paulinaps.com
Portfoliopaulinaps.com
LocationBay Area, California
Available forVisual merchandising · Retail design · Store planning · Environment design
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