For more than 25 years, I've spent my career designing products that bring people together.

As an industrial designer and creative leader, I've had the privilege of developing toys, learning experiences, and products that have found their way into homes, classrooms, and everyday moments of connection. Throughout my career, one truth has remained constant: the objects we surround ourselves with have the power to shape how we feel, how we gather, and how we remember.

Over time, I began to feel drawn to something deeper.

I saw how busy life had become and how easily we can lose touch with ourselves, the people we love, and the memories that continue to shape us. I wanted to create space for a different kind of experience—one rooted not in productivity or performance, but in presence.

Essence of Poppy was born from that calling.

It is the intersection of my lifelong practice as a designer and my personal passion for health, wellness, and intentional living. Alongside my design career, I became a certified 200-hour yoga teacher, further deepening my belief that creativity and well-being are not separate pursuits. Both invite us to slow down, listen, and reconnect with what matters most.

Today, Essence of Poppy is a creative studio devoted to connection.

Through experiences, workshops, and thoughtfully designed objects, I create opportunities for people to return to themselves, strengthen their relationships, and honor the people and memories they carry with them.

I believe creativity is one of our most accessible forms of healing—not because we are trying to fix ourselves, but because making something with our hands allows us to pay attention again.

To ourselves.

To each other.

To the stories that deserve to be carried forward.

At its heart, Essence of Poppy exists to create space for connection—in all its forms.

Because some of the most meaningful things in life are often the hardest to articulate, yet the easiest to feel.

And sometimes, all we need is an invitation to pause long enough to notice them.

Erica Golub
Founder + Experience Designer
Industrial Designer | Creative Facilitator | 200-Hour Yoga Teacher