Mat has always been deeply shaped by his environment. With a father who worked at the U.S. State Department, Mat’s family routinely moved from country to country while he was growing up, exposing him to a variety of new places. Mat’s bedroom in each of these countries became his creative outlet. “I spent a lot of time investing in my how my room looked; where my bed would be and how all the furniture was arranged.” Figuring out how to create familiarity in these ever-changing spaces built the early foundation for Mat’s practice.
Since then, his focus has expanded to include large-scale residential projects, buildings of diplomacy, and initiatives that advocate for black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). His involvement in Miller Hull’s internal operations groups – Culture Ops and Equity Lab – helps spread awareness throughout the firm and beyond on equity in design, representation, and leadership, values that Mat believes will soon become an industry-wide standard.