About
A studio built on curiosity, craft, and calm execution.
Our story
Townsley Designs began with a simple conviction: an event should feel like a place, not a package. What started as a small Austin design practice has grown into a full-service studio producing weddings, galas, corporate summits and brand experiences across Texas and well beyond it.
We are designers first and producers by discipline. That means the sketch and the load-in schedule come from the same team — and nothing gets lost between them.
Founder
Shonda Townsley
The company bears her name, and Shonda vows to maintain the quality of every event that Townsley Designs produces. She is personally invested in every piece that goes out and every event it goes into — the cool-headed organizer, the calm center of every load-in, who knows every back-of-house team in Texas.
Impeccable attention to detail. An inventive talent for color palettes. Extensive knowledge of superlative vendors and unparalleled access to the best venues and locations.
“Design should feel inevitable — as if the room could never have been anything else.”
Philosophy
What makes Townsley different
Custom, never catalog
Every event is designed from a blank page.
One team, start to finish
Creative direction and production never hand off.
We build what we draw
In-house fabrication for the pieces that don't exist yet.
Warm precision
High-end execution without a hint of stuffiness.
How we work
Four moments, one continuous conversation.
Inquiry
A conversation about the date, the room and what the evening should feel like.
Concept + Design
Palette, plan and renderings — the design language settled before anything is ordered.
Production + Fabrication
Build schedules, vendor curation and the custom pieces made in our own studio.
Event Day
Load-in through strike, managed by the same team that drew it.
Where we work
Austin roots. Passport ready.
We are proudly based in Austin and produce regularly throughout the Texas Hill Country, Houston, Dallas and Marfa — and we travel for the projects that ask for it.
The team
Every event is handled by the whole studio.
Billy Townsley
Master of Procurement
Quick-witted and fast to the punch line, Billy locates the exact items that individualize each event's theme, ensuring clients are not just satisfied but delighted with the results.
Billy sees beauty in the bones of an object — a gift that pairs well with the team's ability to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. The result is an inventory unmatched in the event world.
Lily Kuo Gonzales
Designer
Packing major style into all her designs, Lily is there from initial concept to finished product. Her events range from grand weddings and classically styled parties to ground-breaking charity events.
Textile obsessed and detail focused, Lily commands both the analytical and the stylistic, adding her signature chic, personalized graphic elements to each event.
Joanna Kerbel
Design + Graphics
Joanna has pushed the envelope from day one. When she's not on an event site, she's designing the custom graphics and signage seen throughout many of our featured events — and sharing the work on social.
Her ability to look at things in a unique and unfiltered way makes Joanna a key element in our design process, paired with a methodical, hands-on, no-excuses approach.
John Burks
Production + Fabrication
More than half a life in the event business has not stemmed John's torrent of creative verve. Each project is original — from simple facades to fully lit show-stopping signs and one-of-a-kind props.
Burks believes firmly in the sensation of innovation, and that the more sparkle, the better. His passion is conceiving and creating the most extraordinary elements of each event.
