Foundation
Brand Foundation
Story
Grain & Mortar is a branding and web development studio in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 2011 by Eric Downs and Mike & Kristin DeKay, we build identities, websites, and digital products for clients across diverse industries — from venture-backed tech to neighborhood breweries. Same team, same approach, for over a decade.
Mission
Help mission-driven organizations and ambitious operators show up online with the polish their work deserves. Honest folks doing honest work.
Vision
Be the studio our clients refer to their friends — not because of a sales pitch, but because of how we worked together.
Values
Honesty
Plain talk over jargon. We tell clients what we actually think — about scope, timelines, what's worth doing, and what isn't.
Craft
Every detail of the design, the build, and the writing matters. We sweat the things most agencies skip.
Partnership
Great work gets us hired, but our process, character, and relationships keep us in business. We're in it for the long haul, not the launch.
Humanity
We're not creating for robots, we're creating for people. We bring elements of delight and humanity to every project.
Personality
Audience
Founders, marketing leads, and creative directors at organizations that care how they show up — venture-backed startups, established B2B brands, food and beverage operators, mission-driven nonprofits, and anyone who's tired of agencies that talk more than they ship.