Jim Friesz co-founded Mutuus Studio in 2016. Jim leads civic and cultural projects with almost three decades of experience working on award-winning projects including museums, college facilities, offices, multifamily mixed use and restaurants.  He is passionate about working with the complex organization of civic, cultural and residential projects with people that value community. Jim’s architectural experience in institutional design and museums brings a depth of understanding of project leadership at any scale - blending building performance with harmonious design.

Growing up in Eastern Washington, Jim brings a vernacular and regional approach to the projects he designs. Jim is a licensed Architect in Washington and Montana and holds a degree in Architecture from Washington State University. Jim is a LEED AP's and is committed to embedding national sustainable standards and equitable practices into his work.

Like the other partners in Mutuus Studio, Jim comes from an artistic background and is a lifelong practicing musician, offering a different perspective to our creative design process.  Jim has led the all-designer band (The Gray Band) since 2019, and completed an original song and video for the 2020 Gray Awards presentation.

Originally hailing from Puerto Rico with both Irish and Puerto Rican heritage, Cristina relocated to the Pacific Northwest to attend college, obtaining a BA in art history and studio arts from the University of Washington, and an MA in Interior Design from Washington State University.

With over 20 years’ experience in Interior Design and Arts Administration, Cristina brings a multi-disciplinary approach to her work, with a focus on designing custom solutions for her clients in collaboration with artisans and craftspeople. Her passion lies in creating authentic and rich interior experiences that provide the framework for meaningful interactions with others ranging from a resort in a distant location, tech company innovation centers, “third place” cafes, or within one’s own home.  Her passion for design, coupled with a pragmatic approach to project delivery, allows her to fully realize a vision that melds the ideas brought forth by the client and the design team.  Her work has been recognized with numerous national and international awards and recognitions, including a cover feature in Interior Design magazine.

In her free time, she loves to gain fresh perspective on life via travel with her family to locations near and far such as Zanzibar, Malta, and closer to home, the San Juan Islands at their family cabin.

Renee is closing on upon almost three decades of architectural practice in the Pacific Northwest, mostly managing high-end residential and hospitality design. She has built her career learning from some of the best architects in Seattle, such as James Cutler, Bob Hull and Dave Miller, Tom Kundig and Jim Olson, and during that time she collaborated with Kristen Becker before she founded Mutuus Studio. She was inspired to join a woman-owned architectural studio and push boundaries in this next chapter.

A hands-on approach is the root of her architectural trajectory whereas a means to exist in rural Wisconsin upbringing, you were required to fix everything in-house and put in the work. Putting in the time and working through design efforts paired up well with the architectural curriculums at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee where she earned her Bachelor of Science, Architectural Studies, and the University of Washington for her Master of Architecture. The foundations for design excellence are woven threads from youth, education, career, and life.

In her free time, Renee enjoys working on personal projects such as woodworking, laser cutting, knitting, and an endless supply of home renovations, all of which inspire her personal creativity. She and her husband have raised two daughters who currently play soccer for the University of Montana. When she is not working with her hands outside of work, they are traveling to watch games.

Mia was born and raised in New York City with parents who worked in the commercial arts and design industries. At the age of 15 she was launched into a career as an actress in film and television and for 35 years she worked on sound stages and locations throughout America, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia.

This extensive travel and exposure to elaborate film sets, from fully realized forests made of polystyrene, to gilded minarets in Jaipur, Brutalist compound in Namibia, to stately homes in England, inspired and insatiable eye for design, and an awareness of the way it impacts the way we live, and feel.

An actors role in informed by the set, set dressing, and props. A character is enhanced, and sometimes defined by the right costume. Lighting not only allows us to see where we are, but sets the tone for the stories we want to tell. This is also true of the spaces in which we live and work, and the things we chose to put in them. Mia enjoys helping clients bring together the elements that reflect their unique stories, objects that nurture the creative spirit in the everyday, and the pleasure to be found in the considered detail, no matter how small.

Mia brings a love of collaboration, authentic materials, and a passion for discovering that unexpected piece that punctuates a room.

Matthew begun his design career as graphic designer with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Technical Communications from Colorado State University. He primarily focused on website design, photography and marketing material. While receiving a Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Colorado Denver, he found a passion of woodworking and material exploration.  Completing home renovations with his brother-In-Law inspired Matt to pursue the Design + Build program, the Colorado Building Workshop, where he helped design and construct a 120-foot pedestrian bridge in Northern Colorado. He strives to bring beauty out of everyday materials. 

If he’s not on the trails training for half marathons, Matt fills his spare time with paddle boarding, biking or creating furniture for his new home in Ballard.  

Kristen brings over two decades of design experience working on a broad range of highly detailed modern architecture and interiors. Prior to co-founding Mutuus Studio in Seattle, Kristen founded Mutuus Studio Brooklyn has worked with award winning design firms in Seattle as an Associate at Olson Kundig, New York with Matthew Baird Architects and in Europe working on Exposition design for Hannover Germany. She leads the residential and hospitality projects in the studio.

Kristen’s poly-passionate interests are deeply connected to the arts. She has collaborated with world renown artists on numerous large scale public art installations on one of the first installations on High Line in NY, Times Square, Art Basel Miami among others.

Kristen is inspired by an expansive view of design inclusive of the interiors and the objects we connect with each day.  Her experience as a former dancer has informed this idea, as she approaches design more like a choreographer with thoughtful attention to the full experience of a designed environment.  Being married to artist and Mutuus partner Saul has led to collaborations in our studio that have embraced the notion that there is no separation between art, architecture, interiors, and the objects that surround us. 

Hailing from Nova Scotia Canada, Kristen received her Master's in Architecture from Dalhousie University, her undergraduate degree in Environmental Design Studies in Architecture from The Technical University of Nova Scotia and WIBO Business in NYC and is a LEED AP.  She is co-author of “The Good Office - Green Design on the Cutting Edge” published by Harper Collins Design. Her passion of sustainability led to being a resident at PS1 MoMA as a part of the “Rising Currents” project on climate change that went on to be exhibited at MoMA and be awarded a National AIA Award of Excellence.

She currently serves on the Board of Trustees the Henry Art Museum and on the National Council for Madame Architect.  She has collaborated on multiple award-winning projects and her work has been published in a variety of national publications including The New York Times, Architectural Digest, Landscape Architecture and World Architecture.

Brueck is an NCIDQ certified interior designer with a deep love for spaces and objects that tell stories. While studying for an undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville she interned for a residential interior designer and spent a summer as a carpenter/stagehand. Post-graduation, she worked as a freelance set designer before moving to Seattle. Growing up, her family moved frequently, which instilled an early love of the craft of creating a home space and appreciation for unique place-specific details. From an adobe house in a coastal desert town in Peru, to a rural Mississippi farmhouse, each home belonged to its geographic place.

With experience in sectors including multifamily and corporate interiors, she brings an eye for detail and a love for learning how details fit together in the field. Brueck is passionate about crafting thoughtful interiors that tell stories for and about the people who inhabit them.

At home, Brueck can be found reading a new book, trying a new vegetable-forward recipe, or scheming up her next trip -  bucket list destinations include Argentina and Japan.

Jon developed an early interest in the arts, having studied fine arts at Northern Illinois University. He shifted his focus to Architecture and completed his degree at the University of KY College of Design. Upon graduation he interned at mOrphosis Architects in Los Angeles where he focused on architectural model building and spent endless hours in the workshop.

His affinity towards the physical act of building led him to Seattle as a carpenter, where he manifested a Mutuus-designed remodel as a Project Supervisor for Hammer & Hand general contractors. He brings several years of experience from the design / build environment, along with an artist's eye and an insatiable desire to design and make. Jon assists the Mutuus Made prototyping and fabrication and leads the model making in the studio.

Jon is a certified charter boat captain and brings to the studio a poly-passionate background including photography, fabrication and high-level Rhino modeling.

Saul leads the Mutuus Made Research and Development in the studio, including overseeing the prototyping, fabrication and materials explorations in the studio - blurring the boundaries between designer, builder and artist. He designs and fabricates the Mutuus Made line of lighting, hardware, and objects and you are more likely to find Saul on-site installing custom elements, photographing projects, applying patina to metal, or fabricating in the shop, than sitting behind a desk. Saul grew up in Tacoma, Washington where you didn’t have nice things, you made nice things. Saul's meticulous and hands-on approach to design brings craft and experimentation into our design process. His creative practice is heavily influenced by his storied past as an artist, sailor, carpenter, art handler, and maker.

Saul holds a Bachelor in Fine art from NSCAD and a Master of Fine Art from VCU. He is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, residencies, and fellowships including a NYFA Fellowship, the Virginia Museum of Fine Art Fellowship, Artist Trust Fellowship, The Arctic Circle 2010 Expedition, and Gros Morne Artist Residency. His work has been discussed in national publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, NY Arts Magazine, and The Seattle Times.

Saul Becker also runs an active studio practice as a painter, printmaker, and sculptor obsessed with landscape. He has had numerous solo shows in New York, Seattle, and afar. His work has been exhibited at Zeiher Smith & Horton, Greg Kucera, Artists Space, the Horticultural Society of New York, and Socrates Sculpture Park, among others. He has served on the board of 4Culture Public art projects and has led numerous public Art projects including the iconic Acid Ball installation in Bellingham, Washington.

Megan is a licensed architect in Washington State, with more than fourteen years of experience, twelve of which have been in Seattle.  She has worked for multiple well-renowned detail and craft focused architecture firms on projects ranging from high-end single family residential, workplace design, retail and cultural. She has a Master of Architecture from Montana State University, Bozeman, and a post-professional Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University GSAPP, New York. The extreme contrast of rural and urban climates where Megan spent her formative years led her to Seattle, where she found a balance between the city and the natural landscape.

Megan was raised in Omaha, Nebraska in an artistic family that encouraged her from a young age to explore a creative career.  While attending Montana State, she took design-build fabrication courses and worked construction during the summers, including picking up construction trash in a Bobcat!  These experiences gave her a deeper respect for the complexities of each project and the role of architects. She carries that appreciation through her work to this day.

Megan believes the most successful designs come from careful listening.  Design conversations contribute to the development of a unique set of parameters for each project.  The goal is always well-crafted, beautiful, and lasting buildings.

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Holly’s curiosity about the way we live and storied objects landed her an anthropology degree from Western Washington University.  After living abroad and countless trips overseas, she applied her understanding of systems to business management; first in the construction industry then in home décor retailing.  With post-baccalaureate studies in interior design Holly has expanded on her anthropology background to source and curate for the home.  Through collaboration and careful consideration Holly believes objects can become elevated to tell the story of the homeowner.

Holly champions the lineage of craft with an emphasis on process and materiality.  She’s interested in vernacular and regionality, in how the built environment impacts quality of life, and how these universal ideas connect the human experience, globally.

Outside of the office, Holly can be found in her home garden or kitchen growing food and cooking it up.  When not at home she’s with her family adventuring in the wild. 

Doug Franklin II, is a machinist that works closely with Saul in fabricating the Mutuus Made collection. Doug, through his company Eccentric Machine works, develop prototypes and fabricate the lighting and hardware collection for Mutuus Studio. Born in Tacoma, Doug was elementary school classmates with Mutuus partner Saul. Doug is both machinist and a musician and holds a Bachelor of Science in Music from Portland State University.

Doug grew up surrounded with industrial equipment and immersed himself in anything mechanical from fixing motorcycles and classic cars to fabricating nuclear containment equipment and repairing musical instruments.  

Boasting the ability to fabricate and play his own instruments like the Trumpet he plays, Doug embodies the Mutuus ethos of living what they do. Doug is known at the Mutuus office as a genius of anything and everything mechanical. His curiosity on the way the world works is akin to Saul’s, and they work together to develop techniques and fabricating solutions that makes working feel more like playing.