Category Depth
Deep experience in beauty, wellness and consumer brands, including retail standards, packaging realities and e-commerce behavior.
About
About The Copper Portico
A Conversation, Then a Direction
The Copper Portico was a brand and design studio founded by Lilian Santini in 2017. It closed at the end of 2026, after ten years.
The studio worked with companies at moments of growth, change and increased visibility, when a clear point of view needed to become a coherent brand experience. The work spanned strategy, identity, packaging, digital, campaigns, and the systems that help a brand stay recognizable as it grows.
Beauty and wellness were deep areas of experience, but the work reached any brand where character, trust and a considered customer experience mattered.
The studio listened closely, then translated what was essential into work that could live in the world: on shelf, online, in a campaign, in a presentation, or in the everyday details that shape how people understand a company.
Our Philosophy
Good design was not decoration applied at the end.
It was a way of helping a company become easier to understand, easier to trust, and more itself at every point of contact.
Every project began by understanding the real work: what had changed, what had to remain, who the brand was for, and what it needed to make possible next. Then the studio built the identity, tools and experiences that brought that direction into the world.
The best outcomes were both distinct and useful: work with enough feeling to be remembered and enough structure to hold up in the real conditions of growth.
Meet the founder
Lilian Santini
Lilian Santini founded The Copper Portico in 2017, after watching founders juggle separate designers for brand, packaging and digital. The studio brought all of it under one direction, so a brand stayed coherent everywhere it appeared.
Over ten years she led the studio's strategy, creative direction and client relationships, many of which lasted for years. Bilingual, with a background in literature and project management, she brought both language and structure to the work.
She believed a brand works best when it says what it actually is, and that every surface deserves the same care.
Creative Director, 2018–2026
Mariana de Oliveira
Mariana is a designer with experience across brand identity, packaging, print, editorial and digital. Her work is grounded in the belief that good design creates connections between ideas, people, and the many ways a brand comes to life.
She trained in Design at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora in Brazil and grew at The Copper Portico from intern to creative lead to Creative Director, working across strategy and hands-on design and shaping much of the studio's visual work.
She believed a strong brand should feel cohesive wherever it appears, on a shelf, on a screen, or anywhere in between, and that belief runs through the work in these case studies.
What Defined the Work
Integrated Delivery
Strategy, identity, packaging and digital experience connected from the start, which reduced handoffs and protected the original direction.
Built For Growth
Systems that could carry new products, campaigns, retail moments and changing customer needs without starting over each time.
Emotional Intelligence
Listening came first. The priority was always the client's vision, which meant fewer revision rounds and brands that reflected the people behind them.
Client stories
Lilian and her team did a fantastic job on our project. They exceeded all expectations on every level from communication to work product. Everything was high quality and on point including lots of attention to detail. Highly recommend, we’re looking forward to working with them again in the future.
Asher T. | Novis Living