Briana Kohlbrenner – Artist | Curator

Briana Kohlbrenner is an accomplished artist, curator, designer, and creative professional with more than 20 years of experience in visual merchandising, spatial design, event styling, project management, and arts curation. Driven by a passion for transforming spaces and fostering meaningful community engagement, her career bridges retail design, arts administration, entrepreneurship, and nonprofit leadership.

Briana currently serves as an In Store Designer at IKEA Syracuse, where she creates inspiring, functional retail environments that reflect IKEA's vision of improving everyday life at home. In this role, she combines creative design, customer insight, visual storytelling, and commercial strategy to develop engaging showroom experiences. Her work represents a natural evolution of a career dedicated to designing spaces that connect with people while balancing aesthetics, functionality, and business objectives.

As the Founder & Owner of MAUVE, Briana designed and sold eco-friendly, handmade products at regional art and craft markets, overseeing product development, branding, and sales strategy. Her background in visual merchandising includes nearly a decade at H&M, where she served as a Visual Merchandiser & Manager, leading merchandising strategies, training teams across the Northeast, and executing large-scale seasonal marketing transitions.

Briana’s expertise extends into the arts and nonprofit world, where she has developed and managed impactful arts programming. As Program Coordinator at the Gallery at SUNY OCC, she curated exhibitions, organized artist talks and workshops, and led a two-year public art installation. She has also co-founded and directed numerous community arts initiatives, including Salt City DISHES, a nonprofit that funded public art projects through community dinners, and Craft Chemistry, a handmade consignment boutique and gallery that showcased over 50 local artists.

Her leadership in curated events and community-driven projects has made a lasting impact on the creative landscape of Central New York. From organizing large-scale handmade markets and public art installations to securing grant funding for arts initiatives, Briana brings a visionary, hands-on approach to creative engagement.

Driven by the belief that art and space have the power to transform experiences, Briana continues to develop innovative projects that bridge the gap between artistic expression and community connection.