Why I built Eden

I’ve spent the last 17 years working as a professional designer.

From branding and eCommerce to digital experiences and design systems, I’ve worked alongside agencies, creative teams, and some incredible brands. Along the way, I built my own design studio, Art of the Cart, where I’ve spent years helping businesses create better digital experiences.

Design has been my career, my livelihood, and a huge part of how I see the world.

And then AI came along.

Something was changing.

Like a lot of designers, I started watching AI transform the way digital products were being created.

Suddenly, anyone could describe a website or interface and watch an AI agent write the code to build it.

And the technology was getting better. Fast.

As exciting as that was, I couldn’t ignore what it meant for designers.

If anyone could generate an interface, where did that leave the people who had spent their careers learning how to design one?

I didn’t believe design was becoming irrelevant. Quite the opposite.

But I could see that the tools, workflows, and expectations surrounding our profession were going to change dramatically.

And I wasn’t convinced the tools we had were preparing us for what was coming.

I didn’t want to be left behind.

I also didn’t want to sit around waiting for someone else to decide what the future of design should look like.

So I started experimenting.

I began working with AI coding agents, exploring what was possible when I could direct the creation of real interfaces through conversation.

It was extraordinary.

But something was missing.

I could generate beautiful interfaces, yet the process often lacked the structure, precision, and creative control I’d spent years developing as a designer.

I wanted to work with AI without giving up the things that made me a designer in the first place.

I wanted to make decisions visually. Refine details. Explore directions. Build reusable components. Establish design systems. Understand the work, not just generate it.

And I wanted all of that to happen directly in the real code.

Not in a separate design file that would eventually need to be translated into something else.

So I started building Eden.

Eden began as a personal project. A tool I felt I needed to build for myself.

An environment where AI agents could do what they do best, while designers could continue doing what we do best.

An environment where code is the design itself.

Where designers can move fluidly between conversation, visual exploration, direct editing, and structured design systems.

Where the agent helps create, but the designer remains in control.

Over time, the idea became bigger than simply building a better editor.

I began imagining what design tools could look like if they were built around this new relationship between human creativity and artificial intelligence from the very beginning.

And what if designers could extend those tools themselves?

Build new capabilities. Share component libraries. Create visual effects. Contribute new ways of working.

What if the design community could help shape the environment we all use?

That’s the future I’m working toward with Eden.

Design belongs to designers.

I know I’m not the only designer who has wondered what AI means for our future.

There are incredibly talented people who have spent years mastering their craft, building careers, starting studios, and contributing to the digital world around us.

I don’t think those people should have to fight for access to the tools they need to remain relevant.

And I don’t think creative independence should depend on whether an employer is willing to pay for another software subscription.

That’s why Eden Studio is free for individual designers.

Bring your own AI agent. Create. Experiment. Build systems. Make things.

When businesses, agencies, and larger organizations need shared environments, collaboration, and governance, that’s where Eden becomes a commercial product.

But the individual designer should always have a place here.

This is just the beginning.

I’m still a designer.

I’m still learning, experimenting, building, and figuring out what this new era means for our profession.

Eden is my attempt to contribute something meaningful to that future.

Not because I believe AI should replace designers.

But because I believe designers have an extraordinary opportunity to shape what AI makes possible.

And I’d rather help build that future than wait for it to happen.

I want your input. Tell me what you need, and help shape what this tool becomes.

Soon, Eden opens up to the community. You’ll be able to extend Studio, build your own tools, and share them with other designers.

Design belongs to designers.