(harlan)

ABOUT H&H

Portrait of Kat Nopper, owner of Harlan & Hazel, a Vermont-based interior design studio, standing in front of a wooden staircase.

Harlan & Hazel is a one-woman founded and run studio. Partnering with builders and homeowners on projects since 2023, she selects with care the projects that will benefit most from her experience, skill set, and creative energy.

Katherine (Kat) Nopper has a background in the design & build residential construction industry in Vermont. Her commitment to the field is consistently affirmed by the sense of achievement and community that comes from working with tradespeople and artisans in all aspects of homebuilding. Her projects have included interior scopes - single or multiple rooms, furnishings and custom drapery - 3D rendering and project selections management, and consulting on additions and renovations. She is currently supporting and developing a new home build on Lake Champlain from drawings to finishes. As a designer, Kat thrives in the role of translator: articulating goals, vision, and ideas between client, builder, and craftsperson with care and clarity.

Her independent work is not only an adventure into customizing a rewarding client experience, providing a full service vision -from studs and drywall to wallpaper and drapery - but also motivated by the rewards of meeting (and exceeding) client expectations. Kat’s priority is to ensure that no opportunity for transformation is missed - even, and especially, when those details emerge unexpectedly.

Kat is an RIDQC Certified Interior Designer, a member of the National Kitchen & Bath Association, and the Designers Society of America.  Aside from her independent work through Harlan & Hazel, LLC, she works full time as a member of the design team at Lewis Creek Builders located in Essex, Vermont, since 2020. 

Like many talented designers, she owes much to her mother and step-father, introducing her to the world of antiques, art, and homemaking (from demolition to cushion sewing). And to her father and step-mother, an awe and appreciation for the care and labor inherent to farming and animal husbandry, and an appreciation for the beauty of the natural world and the works of literature that celebrate that mystery. A deep engagement in the fine arts throughout her school years, including post-baccalaureate figurative studies at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, has entrenched the disciplines of proportion, balance, color theory, as well as historical tradition and the avant-garde, in her creative process. Her Master’s thesis work on art and critical theory in the 20th Century brought her to Duke University, and exposed her to the unexpected ways life has more “warmth” and tenacity in the South. What keeps her joyful: seeing the beautiful and unexpected, finding inspiration in every journey, close to home or far overseas. Kat lives in Essex, Vermont, with her partner, Michael - a teacher - and her ornery (but very handsome) black lab, Harlan.