Custodian

2025
Systems Design · AI Deployment

Sacred Protocol is an ongoing project exploring how artificial intelligence might function within symbolic, ethical, and ritual frameworks rather than utilitarian or extractive ones. The work was developed in response to the increasing presence of AI agents in daily life, often positioned as assistants, optimizers, or companions.

The project asks how such systems might instead operate as custodial entities—maintaining meaning, constraint, and continuity without personalization or authority.

2023 Studio Practice · Domesticism · Sustainable Infrastructure

Chains Cut was a term-based studio project that staged a complete domestic system within a rented condominium in downtown Toronto. Conceived as a whole-home solution, the project explored how furniture, textiles, and everyday objects could be designed, made, and lived with under conditions of material constraint, mobility, and reuse.

Over the course of one month, the space functioned simultaneously as a private residence and a public open house. The system was dismantled at the end of the term, returning the unit to the rental market and situating the work within the temporary, transitional realities of contemporary domestic life.

Ongoing
Installation · Systems Design · Domestic Infrastructure

Portal 3000 is an ongoing installation that stages domestic life under post-resource conditions. The work examines how care, habit, and meaning persist when efficiency, productivity, and accumulation are no longer the organizing principles of everyday life.

The installation takes the home as both a technological site and a symbolic one—where decisions are embedded into objects, routines, and spatial arrangements rather than interfaces or instructions.

Ongoing
Material Practice · Post-Consumer Systems

Immortal Fabrics emerged from a deliberate departure from industrial fashion production and global materials supply chains. After nearly two decades working as a creative director and designer within fashion and consumer technology, the project reoriented clothing toward necessity, repair, and long-term use rather than seasonal design or market availability.

The practice operates entirely outside linear materials economies. All sourcing begins with what is found locally, not what is produced or ordered, positioning garments as functional domestic objects rather than products.

2012
Material Study · Fine Craft
Waterloo County, Ontario

Quilt Study was developed during a period of focused study in fine craft and hand fabrication. In 2012, Chains lived and worked in Waterloo County, Ontario, collaborating with the Sunbeam Sewing Circle of the Blenheim Mennonite Church, founded in 1908.

The project examined quilting as a communal, domestic practice rooted in reuse, shared labor, and continuity rather than production efficiency or authorship.

2020–2021
Creative Direction · Brand Systems · Identity

Tonal is a connected fitness company operating at the intersection of hardware, software, and domestic space. The rebrand took place during a period of rapid growth and increased visibility, requiring the brand to function consistently across product, marketing, retail, and editorial environments.

The brief was to create a system that could scale across channels and teams while remaining clear, specific, and grounded in the realities of the product.

2018–2019
Creative Direction · Brand Systems · Communication

Ecobee is a smart home technology company focused on energy efficiency and climate control within domestic environments. The rebrand occurred during a period of growth and category maturation, as connected home devices moved from early adoption toward broader household integration.

The work required a system capable of operating across hardware, software, packaging, marketing, and retail while remaining legible to a wide audience and grounded in the realities of everyday home use.

2019–2020
Creative Direction · Spatial Design · Retail Environment
Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Toronto

The Toronto Flagship Store marked Moose Knuckles’ first permanent retail location. At the time, the brand operated primarily as a wholesale entity, represented through trade shows, industry platforms, and its own e-commerce channel, with no prior physical retail expression.

The store was developed at Yorkdale Shopping Centre, a major luxury retail environment with a high concentration of international brands. The project required the brand to establish spatial credibility immediately—functioning as a point of sale, a public-facing environment, and a signal of long-term positioning.

2019
Creative Direction · Retail Concept · Collaboration

This project was developed as a shop-in-shop retail concept for 10 Corso Como, a multidisciplinary retail environment known for integrating fashion, art, and publishing within a single spatial and cultural framework.

The collaboration required the creation of a limited capsule collection and retail presentation designed specifically for the Milan location. All elements needed to operate within Corso Como’s established visual language while maintaining coherence as a standalone installation.

2021 Broadcast Commercial · Brand Campaign

LeBron James for Tonal was a broadcast commercial developed during Steph Hoff’s tenure as Creative Director at Tonal. Working with cross-functional teams and external partners, the project established Tonal’s first marquee professional athlete partnership and helped shape the brand’s presence within mainstream broadcast and digital culture.

2015 Editorial Publication · Branding · Communications

Craftsmanship Book was an editorial publication developed as Steph Hoff’s first project as Creative Director at Moose Knuckles. Created to establish depth, credibility, and a performance-driven narrative, the project documented the brand’s manufacturing processes, ethical standards, and Canadian production heritage.

Produced through on-site research at Moose Knuckles’ Winnipeg manufacturing facilities, the book became a foundational tool for wholesale, retail, and media—supporting international account growth and repositioning the brand beyond its previously provocative marketing reputation.

2017 Advertising · Media Planning · Platform Strategy

Pornhub Takeover was an advertising campaign developed during Steph Hoff’s tenure as Creative Director at Moose Knuckles. Conceived to reach a dense and diverse audience at scale, the project leveraged one of the highest-traffic platforms on the web to challenge conventional boundaries around brand alignment and media placement.

Designed as a low-cost, high-impact intervention, the campaign used animation and strategic positioning to generate brand recognition through cultural provocation—demonstrating how unconventional platforms could be used deliberately and effectively within a broader media strategy.

2016 Brand Development · Production · Strategy

Biannual was a contemporary outerwear label developed to occupy the space between ready-to-wear and fast fashion, combining a designer aesthetic with a millennial value system and accessible pricing strategy. Conceived and produced under Steph Hoff’s executive creative leadership, the brand was built around longevity, sustainability, and dual-season relevance.

Launched through premium global retailers and supported by strong editorial adoption, Biannual achieved rapid cultural and commercial traction before being discontinued after five seasons due to shifting corporate priorities of its parent company.

2017 Brand Campaign · Creative Direction · Cultural Production

Future Party People was a brand campaign developed during Steph Hoff’s tenure as Creative Director at Moose Knuckles. Conceived as a tonal and cultural reset, the project repositioned the brand within contemporary fashion and pop culture while maintaining its satirical, irreverent DNA.

Produced as a high-concept narrative world, the campaign combined music, film, and subcultural references to generate awareness and shift brand perception—establishing a new visual and cultural language that departed sharply from Moose Knuckles’ previous output.