Walt discovered his love of design, gardening, and the outdoors growing up on his family’s Pennsylvania farm. Since then, Walt earned his Bachelors in Landscape Architecture and a MS in Horticulture. Walt has designed residential landscapes for Southern Living magazine, has been a guest designer on HGTV’s Ground Breakers and has won awards for his designs of downtown revitalization plans, parks and residential gardens. In 2004 Walt founded Outdoor Studio, a design/build firm that specializes in bold, unique, no-lawn designs for in-town properties. His experimental nature, dramatic design aesthetic and eco-friendly solutions have won Walt a loyal client base. In 2005, Walt initiated Park Pride’s Park Visioning Program where he helps communities develop master plans for their neighborhood parks. Since launching his program only five years ago, fundraising efforts have netted nearly $9 million to implement Walt’s Visioning Plans. In 2008, Walt co-founded Kanga Properties which specializes in purchasing, renovating, and renting historic houses. While these houses typically come to Walt as distressed properties, they always become amazing, stylish homes. These pursuits are culminating in the publishing of Design Is magazine. Years of designing, critical thinking, working with little or no budgets, and making plenty of mistakes along the way have taught Walt valuable lessons in design that readers of Design Is will inevitably love reading about. Visit designismagazine.com often to enjoy Walt’s witty charm, brutal honesty and bold design aesthetic. Contact Walt Ray at 404.432.9320 or at walt@DesignIsMagazine.com