Putting community at the center of our work.

Our mission is to maximize our client’s potential to connect, engage, and enrich the lives of their audiences and communities.

About Us

We bring an expert team of artists, engineers, and storytellers to every phase of exhibition and project development, from master planning, accessibility, sound and graphic design to multimedia interactives and program development. Our work extends the museum visit beyond its walls to reach new audiences and activate informal learning in communities, cities, outdoor spaces and online.

In collaboration with the Omnimuseum Project, we develop new approaches to informal learning, and offer audience research, evaluation, testing, prototyping, and digital storytelling services with our partner Lab at The Peale in Baltimore, America’s first museum building.

A powerful source of learning comes from the institutions with whom we engage to explore ways to share difficult and sensitive history. In working on projects including Calfee Community Center, Lakeport Plantation, and Defining Courage at the Go For Broke National Education Center, we have been enriched with new knowledge and new perspectives. We hope that by helping these institutions share their histories, collections, and stories, we have enabled them to broaden their reach and their impact.

Contact us to talk about your project.

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Bernhard Mueller

Partner
Chief Executive Officer

Michael Burns

Partner
Director of Design Strategies

Roula Tsapalas

Partner
Chief Operating Officer

Quatrefoil supports the principles of Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion, and we are committed to working toward a better understanding of the social history of the places in which we work and live. We acknowledge that we’re at the early end of this learning curve, and we’re committed to doing better.

A powerful source of learning comes from the institutions with whom we engage to explore ways to share difficult and sensitive history. In working on projects including Central High School, Against Their Will, Lakeport Plantation, Defining Courage, and We Are of This Place, we have been enriched with new knowledge and new perspectives. We hope that by helping these institutions share their histories, collections, and stories, we have enabled them to broaden their reach and their impact.

“In addition to being able to have that face-to-face time with a local firm, we also wanted the designers to be good listeners and good communicators during the process. I knew immediately when we met with Quatrefoil that they were exactly what we were looking for, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience.”

Andrea Tracey, Director, College Park Aviation Museum

Reviews

I asked my coworker Michelle, who works in the museum on weekends. She wrote: “The children DEARLY LOVE the Bences’ Challenge . . . . Everyone finishes the challenge and can’t wait to get their gift. It is a great design and it was obviously created by someone who knew a lot about the museum/child interaction.”

–Aimee Slaughter, Los Alamos History Museum’s Education Programs

Quatrefoil demonstrated that they took the time to imagine the possibilities, come up with creative approaches, and provide leads to move forward. Other firms could not get out of the RFQ stage (or did not want to). QFA showed that they had the technical and creative chops to make our project a success, but ultimately the people/personalities involved were the key deciding factor. Our visitor feedback on our first-floor permanent installations is very positive. People are noticeably moved by the faces and stories that they see on the photo wall. Some visitors spend as much as 45-60 minutes on the digital timeline. The digital theater is flexible enough for us to change the content as needed.

–David Uy, Executive Director, Chinese American Museum, 2023

You understood our unique hopes for a new type of history exhibition, and you astounded us with your creativity.

–Exhibit Manager, Go For Broke National Education Center

We open the door to Sound Lab and immediately, there is a spike of happiness in the blood.

–The Seattle Times, in a review of a Quatrefoil-designed exhibition at Experience Music Project

This excellent exhibit is not to be missed. If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at being a musician, here’s your chance. Sound Lab is truly both fun and educational – a sonic playground for kids and adults alike.

–Seattle Post Intelligencer, in a review of a Quatrefoil -designed exhibition at Experience Music Project

The interactive exhibits are particularly popular with our audience, and part of it is that there’s a lot of depth to them. This is a wonderful way to get community involvement and for our visitors to really feel like they are a part of this exhibit.

–Nancy Geyer, Executive Director & CEO, 2001-2019, Museum of Boulder

Quatrefoil really did a great job with researching and then honing down our content and then also focusing it to the present. We knew that in the story of this injustice, this intolerance and the stripping of their citizenship rights, we knew that there are many stories that affect people today that are parallel to what some Muslim and Arab Americans are going through.

–Chris Brusatte, Exhibit Manager, Go For Broke National Education Center

We have these hands-on interactives, which we haven’t had previously. It will not just engage the children, but we’re really excited to see adults work with then and problem solve. So, it’s quite a different approach.

–Betsy Bowers, Administrator, Lakewood Heritage Center

When I came in, I had this excitement waiting in the group, in the line. And when I walked in, it was the warm feeling of different eras in the colors that was used, the lighting. And it’s just vibrant. It’s so welcoming.

–Ray Duck Garcia, Visitor, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center

When I was working with Quatrefoil, I always felt that they were accessible and that was really wonderful for us to feel that we had a partner in collaborating on new and historic exhibits. They pushed us as far as ideas that we had not done before.

–Judith Stauber, Museum Director, Los Alamos History Museum

Shortly after the Washington Nationals won the 2019 World Series we decided to renovate an existing premium club space into what would become the FIS Champions Club. The FIS Champions Club not only tells the story of the journey to our World Series victory but also highlights our players many awards and achievements during their time at the Nationals. In order to properly tell such an important story, we selected the firm of Quatrefoil Inc. We researched their work on other projects and felt that they would be a good fit for what we were trying to accomplish. It was refreshing to work with Quatrefoil. They listened to our thoughts and goals relative to the project and were able to translate them into a coherent well thought out design. I was also impressed with their ability to work with case designers and lighting consultants to bring the project to life in an interesting way that captures the attention of our fans when they visit the club. I look forward to working with them on future projects.

–Frank G. Gambino, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Nationals Park, Washington Nationals, 2023

I want to thank you and your team for the absolutely tremendous job you did…. I could not be more pleased with the results…. As I tell my friends, Quatrefoil quickly became fully engaged — ‘living, breathing and sleeping the Mint for two years.’ The passion and creativity of your team quickly became evident…. The ideas, meanwhile, reinforced in my mind that we had selected the right contractor to do this job…

–Former Director of Public Affairs, United States Mint, Philadelphia

So as soon as I walked into this exhibit, the first thing that I felt was just like intense empathy. It made me inspired as an artist to express my feelings and it, and it made me inspired as an American to serve others so that maybe we can prevent these kinds of atrocities from happening again in the future, maybe become better as humans.

–Fya Man, Visitor, Go For Broke National Education Center

Dream no more, oh rock star wannabes. EMP’s Sound Lab is for you – and for anybody who’s ever wanted to make music. Think of it as a harmonic playground, a high-tech toy room where even the most neophyte musician can learn how to play the instrument of his or her choice.

–Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in a review of a Quatrefoil designed exhibition at Experience Music Project

The Quatrefoil team have been really wonderful to work with. They really helped us with the concepts for our whole museum and then the conceptual plans for this exhibit. So, we have a long history with them. They’re very creative and very talented, and they’re also really good listeners. And we felt that that was really critical because we were telling the story of our community, and it was really important that they listened to us to share the story. And then they found these just amazing ways to tell it through the designs and the interactives that they put together.

–Nancy Geyer, Executive Director & CEO, 2001-2019, Museum of Boulder

This media maker exhibit is exactly on point. This is where a visitor can actually make their own one-minute video. You can combine images, interviews, film words, and then when you’re done, you can email it to yourself and you’ll be able to take something home from your visit here at the Defining Courage exhibit, and then you can share it with your family and friends.

–Michael Ozawa, Board of Directors, Go For Broke National Education Center

And to work with the Quatrefoil design team, to work with the graphic design team, to work with the project managers, everybody that was a part of our team help us really put our thoughts into different compartments and think clearly about what we did. They were invaluable as partners. And that’s what we really considered. You know, although you could say somebody’s a client, it was really a partnership. We wanted them to be a part of it and they, they treated us that way.

–Joshua Christian, National Lacrosse Museum