Every project is a unique collaboration, and I’m proud to bring each client’s vision to life through thoughtful design and strategic branding. Here is a selection of my work across brand identity, packaging, digital design, and more.
Client: Topsy Farms, Amherst Island, Ontario Scope: Brand strategy, logo, packaging, labels, retail display, project management Role: Designer and project manager
Topsy Farms brought me on to lead the branding and packaging for their Live Edge Collection, a line of throws made from their own Canadian alpaca wool blend. This wasn’t a logo-and-done job. I managed the project end to end over a 12-month contract: brand identity, packaging, labels, the in-store display table, sourcing and coordinating custom boxes, and personally assembling the first batch of throws before they ever hit a shelf.
The Live Edge Collection needed packaging that could hold its own next to the quality of the product inside it. Alpaca wool is soft, warm, and genuinely well made, and cheap-looking packaging would have undersold it immediately. At the same time, everything needed to feel authentically Topsy Farms: a working farm on Amherst Island, not a manufactured lifestyle brand pretending to be one.
On top of the design work, someone needed to actually run the project while the Topsy Farms team stayed focused on the farm. That meant handling the parts that don’t show up in a portfolio: ordering, budgeting, vendor coordination, and keeping receipts straight for every dollar spent.
I built a visual identity around the collection’s raw, natural materials and let that guide everything else, packaging, labels, and the physical display table the products would live on in-store. I designed and painted that display table myself, along with a wall mural in the Topsy Farms Wool Shed, so the brand extended into the physical space, not just the packaging.
As project manager, I handled the full budget and logistics: sourcing custom boxes, coordinating delivery, and managing all ordering and expenses, down to the tissue paper, thank you cards, and custom medallions that went into every order. I also helped Topsy Farms secure a grant to support the launch, which extended the collection’s reach beyond what the original budget could cover.
Once the Live Edge Collection identity was established, I carried that same visual language into labels for Topsy Farms’ other product lines, the Headlands Collection and the Lighthouse Collection, so the whole range reads as one considered brand rather than a set of one-offs.
The Live Edge Collection launched with packaging and a retail presence that matched the quality of the product, and the identity extended cleanly across Topsy Farms’ other collections. The team was thrilled with the results and specifically noted the professionalism brought to every part of the process, from design through to the last receipt handed over.
It’s one of my favourite examples of what full-scope design work actually looks like: not just the logo on the box, but the box itself, the table it sits on, and the systems that get it there.
© 2026 Ali Horner Design.