![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Kansas-designs.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBack on Earth, Kinfolk products fill shop shelves at some of Kansas\u2019 top destinations, including the State Capitol and the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka, the Flint Hills Discovery Center in Manhattan, and the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson. For Kuhn and Lisbona, the design on each T-shirt and cap, decal and postcard, patch and pin is an homage to their home state as well as a beacon to fellow explorers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith Kansas, you can get the knock of, \u2018It\u2019s flyover country,\u2019 but that\u2019s easy to say if you\u2019ve never taken the time to experience it,\u201d Kuhn says. \u201cOnce you really explore, there are so many interesting places and things to do that you might not expect.\u201d Kinfolk\u2019s designs capture such attractions with a style and nuance authentic to the state\u2019s characteristic spirit: confident, but unforced; down-to-earth, but dusted with subtle swagger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur designs are focused on Kansas, and we\u2019ve found there\u2019s 100% a market for that,\u201d Lisbona says. \u201cBeing ambassadors and champions for Kansas is something we really enjoy dedicating our art to. And it\u2019s very, very rewarding to design something because you want to design it, put it out there, and someone likes it enough to spend their hard-earned money on it. That\u2019s pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creative roots, KU heritage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kuhn, who is from Overland Park, and Lisbona, from De Soto, grew up in households where creativity was modeled and nurtured, and where the value of a KU degree was enshrined through example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kuhn\u2019s parents, Richard Kuhn, f\u201971, founder of Kuhn & Wittenborn ad agency in Kansas City, and Marcia McCown, f\u201971, an interior designer, met as students at the university. Continuing the KU tradition was an easy call for Kuhn, though he admits initial ambivalence about pursuing an artistic discipline himself. \u201cEveryone in the family was in some sort of creative endeavor; I thought maybe I could buck that trend,\u201d he laughs. \u201cBut it didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From his earliest memory, Lisbona aspired to become an architect and work with his father, Larry, a\u201974, a\u201977, founder of an architecture firm. Lisbona credits both his father and mother, Margie, a paraeducator, with fostering his creative instincts. The idea to channel his talents into graphic design hatched at KU, also thanks to family influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019d go hang out with Toby and see the work he was doing in graphic design, and I liked it a lot,\u201d Lisbona says, adding that he was especially drawn to environmental graphic design, a branch focused on how people experience and engage with physical spaces. The wide-ranging field encompasses everything from navigational signage in a hospital or park to immersive, branded settings such as a museum or sports venue. \u201cKU was the first time I was exposed to something like that, and it felt like a way to take my upbringing in architecture and apply it on a more intimate scale. That was appealing to me, and I decided to change my major to graphic design.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After graduating, the cousins\u2014Kuhn\u2019s mother and Lisbona\u2019s father are siblings\u2014each embarked on careers as graphic designers: Kuhn in advertising at Kuhn & Wittenborn for 15 years, and Lisbona in environmental graphic design at two Kansas City-based firms over five years, where his projects included collaborative work on the Booth Family Hall of Athletics in Allen Fieldhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2008, Lisbona and his wife, Kristin Powers Lisbona, c\u201902, g\u201904\u2014an audiologist at the Kansas City VA Medical Center\u2014welcomed their first child. Looking for a more flexible work schedule, Lisbona decided to strike out on his own. From his basement, he launched Kinfolk Creative, a design studio specializing in environmental graphic design, branding and logo design, and digital media design. In 2016, following years of invitations from his cousin, Kuhn joined the studio full time. (Today, Kuhn and Lisbona refer to their design studio, Kinfolk Creative<\/em>, and their merchandise line, Kinfolk Created<\/em>, collectively as simply Kinfolk.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kuhn and Lisbona\u2019s clients range from national brands such as Sonic Drive-In and Farmers Insurance\u2014they recently designed several large-format anaglyph 3D canvas prints for the lobby of Farmers\u2019 new Kansas City, Kansas, headquarters\u2014to distinctly Midwest gems such as the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, and the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve gotten to build our own thing,\u201d Kuhn says of the business. \u201cAnd with that, there\u2019s always room for growth and trying something new, and it\u2019s special to have that in your work and career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the Kansas City Royals won the World Series in 2015, the tidal wave of local pride was a light bulb moment for Kuhn and Lisbona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe started to see all this passion for Kansas City, and people making all sorts of things with \u2018KC\u2019 on it,\u201d Lisbona says. \u201cWe thought it was cool, but there was kind of a dissonance for us. We\u2019re Kansas kids, and Kansas is the story we know. So we decided, \u2018Let\u2019s do what they\u2019re doing, celebrating Kansas City, but let\u2019s do it for Kansas.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lisbona did a trial run in 2017, printing $1,000 worth of Kansas-touting T-shirts and decals and renting space at the Leavenworth County Fair. His booth sold out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe found out quickly that our hyper-focus on Kansas was something that really resonated with people,\u201d Lisbona says. \u201cSo we started designing more things. We started selling online and went wholesale. I called the Kansas Museum of History, and that was our very first retail customer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pair\u2019s side venture venerating the Sunflower State steadily gained steam. The Kansas Department of Commerce honored Kinfolk among its 2021 Kansas Business Award winners, and the Kansas Sampler Foundation lauded Kuhn and Lisbona\u2019s efforts with a 2022 We Kan! Award, presented to organizations that help sustain the state\u2019s rural culture. In 2022, the HBO series \u201cSomebody Somewhere\u201d\u2014set in Manhattan\u2014commissioned Kinfolk to create custom designs for cast and crew mementos. A Patrick Mahomes-inspired Kinfolk graphic made its way to the quarterback\u2019s native Texas, where it caught the eye of staff at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock. Kinfolk is now the center\u2019s exclusive licensed apparel provider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2024, Kuhn and Lisbona notched perhaps their biggest milestone yet with the opening of Kinfolk\u2019s brick-and-mortar location in downtown Bonner Springs. They\u2019d spent two years transforming the site\u2014a former mercantile annex built in 1910\u2014into a sunny retail shop in front, featuring their full suite of merchandise, and their design studio in back. Kuhn and Lisbona hope that, along with store and studio, the space will also serve as a springboard for Kansas exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want people to come in, learn about Kansas, plan a trip and go see something,\u201d Lisbona says, noting the shop is a Kansas Tourism affiliate and stocks the free, official Kansas maps and guidebooks. \u201cWe want this space to be a Kansas adventure headquarters. As a tourism destination, Kansas has so much to offer, and we want Kinfolk to be where you come to discover all those great places, whether you want to get outdoors and go hiking or you\u2019re looking for the best place to go for pie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proudly displayed in their studio space are Kuhn and Lisbona\u2019s KU degrees. Of all the Kansans and Kansas travelers they meet, they say they feel a particular kinship with Jayhawks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKU opened so many doors for us, and a lot of that was through the network of people we met there,\u201d Lisbona says. \u201cWe still work with many of those people today. That KU bond is something that transcends a piece of paper in a frame. It\u2019s a shared experience of being shaped by this place and being a product of this university.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s like, even if I don\u2019t know this person, I know they\u2019re probably good people,\u201d Kuhn says of even passing encounters with fellow KU alumni. \u201cThere\u2019s an automatic familial feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adds Lisbona, with a smile: \u201cWe were all shot out of the same cannon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beginning in Lawrence, head west on Interstate 70.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alma Creamery<\/a><\/strong> Wabaunsee County Historical Society & Museum<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Kinfolk-Creative.jpg\")
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Destination: Kansas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Graphic-design-Kansas.jpg\")
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\n\n\n\nA Kinfolk-curated Kansas day trip<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
32691 K-99 Highway, Alma
<\/em>Browse the shop\u2019s variety of cheeses\u2014including the creamery\u2019s signature curds\u2014all made in Alma from local milk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>227 Missouri Ave., Alma
<\/em>A trove of local history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kualumni.org\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/06\/Chase-County-Courthouse-Kansas.jpg\")