Capabilities
Josh Bourassa
Integrated Design, Engineering & Creative Practice
Product development, commercial design, manufacturing engineering, fabrication, pre-visualization, fine art, custom paint, mural work, and AI systems — backed by three decades of turning ideas into manufacturable products, functional spaces, visual experiences, and working systems.
Josh’s artistic background is not separate from his technical work. Years of custom motorcycle paint, mural production, graphic composition, color development, and visual storytelling built a strong sense of proportion, balance, finish, and how people respond to an environment or object. That experience carries directly into product design, retail spaces, presentation, branding, and fabrication.
Across every capability, the same core approach applies: understand the problem accurately, identify both the functional and visual intent, resolve the technical and operational constraints, and develop a solution that is buildable, effective, visually resolved, and built to last.
Every project — a motorcycle, a mural, a dispensary buildout, a manufactured product, or an AI system — runs through the same Kaizen-informed, four-stage process: Listen, Design, Refine, Execute.
It starts with understanding what the client actually wants beneath the words they use to describe it, gives that idea a tangible form, refines it until the direction is clear, then executes it with the technical discipline required to make it work.
Commercial & Retail Design
Empty shell → operating environment
Commercial & Retail Design
Commercial spaces are designed around how the business actually needs to operate—not just how the room looks.
The process starts with an exact-scale 3D model of the space so circulation, customer flow, employee workflow, merchandising, storage, accessibility, fixture placement, and operational constraints can be resolved before construction or installation begins. The goal is to make the available square footage work harder, reduce expensive changes in the field, and give the client a clear picture of the finished environment before committing to it.
This approach is especially valuable when space is limited or the business has to remain operational during a retrofit.
At Mana Supply in Edgewater, a shell under 1,000 square feet left roughly 250 square feet available for the retail floor. Rather than forcing a conventional layout into the space, room allocation and the fulfillment model were reworked together. The result was a more functional retail environment built around the actual constraints of the building.
For Xclusive, three operating dispensaries were redesigned and converted under overnight turnover windows. Each location closed at 9pm and reopened at 9am, with no lost trading days. Planning, fabrication, staging, and installation were coordinated around that deadline so the client could improve the environment without sacrificing operating revenue.
For the client, the benefit is a space that is easier to operate, more efficient to build, more predictable to install, and better aligned with how customers and staff actually use it.
Cannabis retail represents the deepest body of completed work, but the underlying method applies to any commercial environment where space, workflow, customer experience, and installation constraints have to work together.
Current Design Firm Website www.cidrehousedesign.com
See it built: Mana Supply · Elite Cannabis Dispensary · Xclusive
Production Pipeline
Concept → Cut-Ready Production
Manufacturing Engineering Pipeline
Concept → Cut-Ready Production
A repeatable six-stage engineering pipeline designed to reduce uncertainty before fabrication begins. Products are developed in 3D from the start, allowing fit, joinery, tolerances, hardware clearances, material requirements, and assembly logic to be resolved before material is cut.
The finished design is then translated into production-ready parts with standardized CNC data that defines operations, tooling, and cut depths. Materials and hardware are specified at the same stage, giving fabrication teams a clearer path from approved concept to finished installation.
For the client, that means fewer shop-floor questions, less material waste, fewer fabrication errors, reduced rework, more predictable costs, and a product that is easier to reproduce accurately across multiple locations.
This system has been used across six separate retail fixture lines since 2021, including projects for Mana Reserve, Spark, and Xclusive across three store locations. It is not a one-off workflow; it is a repeatable production method built to improve consistency, scalability, and manufacturing confidence.
What I actually engineer
Fixtures, cabinetry, structural assemblies, CNC-cut components, hardware systems, lighting integration, installation strategy.
Fixtures, Cabinetry & Structural Assemblies
Retail fixtures and cabinetry are engineered as complete systems rather than isolated objects. Structure, access, storage, display function, serviceability, finish materials, hardware, and installation requirements are considered together so the finished product performs correctly in daily use—not just in a rendering.
CNC-Cut Components
Individual parts are developed with manufacturing in mind from the beginning. Geometry is organized for efficient CNC production, repeatable setup, accurate fit, reduced material waste, and consistent reproduction across multiple units or locations.
Hardware Systems
Hinges, slides, fasteners, locks, brackets, supports, and specialty hardware are selected and integrated during engineering rather than added as an afterthought. This helps prevent clearance conflicts, weak attachment points, difficult assembly, and unnecessary field modification.
Lighting Integration
Lighting is treated as part of the product architecture. LED channels, power supplies, wire routing, access points, ventilation, switching, and serviceability are incorporated into the fixture design so lighting installs cleanly, performs reliably, and remains accessible for future maintenance.
Installation Strategy
Installation is considered before fabrication begins. Component size, transport, door and hallway access, assembly sequence, anchoring, leveling, electrical connections, field tolerances, and service access are all evaluated in advance. The result is a product that arrives on site prepared to install efficiently with fewer surprises, fewer modifications, and less downtime.
Engineering Decisions
Material Thicknesses
Material is selected and sized based on span, load, fastening requirements, finish, machining method, weight, and cost. The goal is to use enough material to create a durable product without adding unnecessary weight, complexity, or expense.
Fastening Methods
Screws, inserts, adhesives, brackets, concealed fasteners, knock-down hardware, and mechanical joints are chosen based on how the product will be assembled, transported, serviced, and used. Fastening strategy directly affects strength, appearance, installation speed, and long-term reliability.
Tolerances
Critical dimensions are resolved before fabrication so parts fit together correctly when they leave the machine. Allowances are made for material variation, machining accuracy, hardware movement, finishes, and real-world field conditions. This reduces forced fits, gaps, rework, and onsite modification.
Assembly Sequence
Products are engineered around the order in which they will actually be built. Joinery, hardware access, wiring, finishing, and component placement are coordinated so one operation does not block the next. A clear assembly sequence reduces labor time and prevents avoidable rebuilds.
Tool Access
Every fastener, adjustment point, connector, and serviceable component has to be physically reachable. Tool clearance is considered during design so installers and technicians can assemble, adjust, or repair the product without removing unrelated components or damaging finished surfaces.
Transport
Finished products must survive the trip from fabrication to installation. Overall dimensions, weight, lifting points, vehicle capacity, door clearances, modular breakdown, packaging, and final assembly location are considered early so the product can be moved safely and efficiently.
Serviceability
Components that may eventually need adjustment or replacement—lighting, power supplies, locks, slides, hinges, wiring, or electronics—are designed with access in mind. This reduces future maintenance time and prevents minor repairs from becoming major disassembly projects.
ADA & Field Constraints
Real environments rarely match drawings perfectly. Existing walls, floors, electrical locations, circulation paths, code requirements, ADA clearances, customer reach ranges, and site-specific tolerances are incorporated into the engineering process. The objective is to ensure the product works in the actual space, not just in the CAD model.
The build, step by step
- Concept. It starts as a 3D body in Fusion 360, not a sketch — the Mana Reserve floor display modeled full-scale before a single board gets touched: glass shelving, a lit display bin up front, cabinet doors below. The whole piece exists digitally, at real dimensions, before it exists anywhere else.
- Engineering. Then it gets engineered, not just drawn. Every panel has its joinery worked out and its hardware positioned — mounting points, shelf-pin holes, bracket locations — resolved in the model itself so nothing gets improvised on the shop floor.
- Decomposition. The assembly comes apart into its individual panels. Each one becomes its own flat file — outline only at this stage, the raw geometry a CNC machine will eventually read, stripped down to just the shape.
- CAM-ready. That raw outline gets layered — a 19-layer naming grammar where every line in the file tells the machine something specific: which edge gets banded, what tool cuts it, how deep. What was a bare rectangle a step ago is now a full cutting instruction set.
- Material & cut list. Every part gets its own material call — thickness, finish, edge treatment — encoded directly into the file name and the cut list, not tracked separately on a spreadsheet somewhere. The Mana Reserve run: 3 complete units, 14 uniquely specified panels each.
- Hardware. Hardware gets scoped per unit before anything ships, then it actually goes in — this corner bracket, screwed into real material, is the same panel from step 2’s engineered model, now physically assembled on the shop floor. Slides, connectors, fasteners: sourced to spec, then installed by hand, not estimated in bulk and hoped for.
See it built: Xclusive · Mana Supply
Result
A disciplined engineering process removes problems while they are still inexpensive to solve—before material is ordered, parts are cut, or installers arrive on site.
Reduced Redesign
Fit, structure, hardware, clearances, assembly, and field conditions are resolved during engineering instead of being discovered during fabrication. That reduces late design changes and keeps approved concepts intact through production.
Less Material Waste
Accurate part development, material specification, and CNC-ready production data reduce bad cuts, duplicate parts, incorrect thicknesses, and unnecessary scrap. Material is purchased and processed with greater confidence.
Fewer Shop-Floor Decisions
Fabricators should not have to interpret design intent while standing at a machine. Clear part geometry, cut information, hardware requirements, and assembly logic give the shop a defined production path and reduce reliance on assumptions or verbal clarification.
Less Field Rework
Access, fastening, transport, serviceability, clearances, and site constraints are considered before fabrication. That reduces trimming, drilling, rebuilding, relocating hardware, or modifying finished components during installation.
Faster, More Predictable Installation
Products are designed around how they will actually move through the building and go together on site. Planned assembly sequences, access points, anchoring methods, and connections reduce installation time and limit disruption to the client’s operation.
Better Cost Control
Every avoided remake, extra site visit, wasted sheet, or installation delay protects the project budget. Engineering decisions made early create more predictable labor, material, and installation costs.
Consistent Results Across Multiple Locations
Once a product is fully engineered, the same manufacturing logic can be repeated across additional units or stores with substantially less uncertainty. The client receives a consistent product without reinventing the process for every location.
The result is a cleaner transition from design to fabrication to installation—with fewer surprises, fewer corrections, and greater confidence in schedule, cost, and finished quality.
Pre-Vis / Architectural Animation Pipeline
Concept → Walkthrough Video
Pre-Vis / Architectural Animation Pipeline
Pre-visualization gives clients a way to understand, evaluate, and communicate a space before committing to construction.
The process turns a floor plan into a fully modeled, narrated walkthrough video rather than a static rendering. That allows layout, circulation, security, materials, equipment placement, and customer experience to be reviewed in motion—closer to how the finished environment will actually be experienced.
The model is developed to the same spatial and compliance standards used for a real buildout, including controlled-access points, restricted areas, and vault separation where required. It is then prepared for animation, camera paths, stills, narration, data callouts, and presentation graphics.
For the client, the value is clarity. Stakeholders can see the concept before it exists, identify conflicts earlier, explain the plan to partners or decision-makers, and present complex technical information in a format that is easier to understand than drawings alone.
For Sapphire Risk Advisory Group, the process was used to create a fully virtual dispensary populated with the client’s own security reference data. The finished walkthrough explained nine separate device categories, from access control through vault construction, in a single visual presentation that could be used for education, sales, and stakeholder communication.
For Kooler Garage Doors, the pre-visualization became a direct reference for the physical build. The completed environment closely matched the approved model, including wall placement and material selections, demonstrating how pre-vis can reduce ambiguity between concept and execution.
Mana Supply’s Pasadena location, now operating publicly as The Reserve, went through the deepest iteration cycle of the three projects and shows the value of using visualization as a working decision tool rather than simply a final presentation asset.
The result is a more informed approval process, fewer misunderstandings, stronger stakeholder communication, and a clearer path from concept to execution.
See it built: Sapphire Risk Advisory Group · Kooler Garage Doors · Mana Reserve Flythrough
Customization & Fabrication
25+ years – Multi mediums and disciplines
Customization & Fabrication
For clients who need something that standard products cannot provide, the value is the ability to design, fabricate, integrate, and finish a complete custom solution without fragmenting the work across multiple vendors.
That capability was built over more than 25 years in automotive and motorcycle fabrication, where every project had to function mechanically, electrically, and visually as one system.
Work has included custom paint and airbrush, fiberglass fabrication, 12V/24V electrical systems, custom wiring harnesses and connector layouts, flush-mounted LED integration, sequential turn-signal systems, and high-end audio installation. The emphasis is not customization for its own sake, but solving packaging, integration, durability, serviceability, and finish-quality problems that off-the-shelf components do not address.
That same approach grew True Kustom from a one-person paint operation into a product-based manufacturing business with an active supply chain and international parts sales. The work earned national television exposure through American Guns on Discovery Channel, three independently published magazine features naming Josh directly, and a working relationship with DiRico Motorcycles that has continued for more than 15 years.
For the client, that experience translates into fewer handoffs, better integration between systems, and a higher level of control over the finished result. Mechanical fit, electrical function, fabrication method, and visual finish are considered together from the beginning, reducing the compromises that often appear when different parts of a custom project are designed in isolation.
Past Website www.bourassadesigns.com · See more of this work: Beyond the Build
AI-Augmented Systems Work
Utilizing LLM models for systems development
AI-Augmented Systems & Automation
AI is applied where it can remove repetitive work, improve decision-making, and turn fragmented information into usable business systems.
The focus is on practical outcomes: identifying qualified leads, automating research and reporting, structuring intake, organizing operational knowledge, and building workflows that deliver useful information without requiring the same manual effort every time.
Examples include a daily-running Colorado business-registration lead-generation pipeline, a GIS-based solar prospecting system that filtered thousands of records down to the highest-value commercial targets for a paying client, an intake-to-operating-profile workflow, and the multi-layer memory and audit system supporting this website.
For the client, the benefit is leverage: less administrative work, faster access to relevant information, more consistent processes, and better use of human time for judgment, strategy, and execution.
Each system is represented according to its actual stage of development—production, client-deployed, or built and tested—so capability is demonstrated without overstating implementation.
See it built: High Noon Solar · Spectrum Leads · MyCorBot · The Cowork Memory Hub
Pre-Architectural & Licensing Documentation
Retail Consulting and Development
Pre-Architectural & Licensing Documentation
Early-stage documentation that helps clients move a project from concept toward licensing, architectural review, and eventual buildout with fewer unknowns.
This work can include exact-scale floor plans, operational layouts, security and vault planning, equipment and fixture data, circulation studies, and other documentation needed to support license applications, municipal review, or an architect’s next phase of work.
For the client, the benefit is a stronger starting point. Key operational and spatial decisions are worked through before higher-cost architectural or construction phases begin, reducing ambiguity, improving communication with regulators and design professionals, and helping expose problems while they are still inexpensive to correct.
For Weedery, license-application drawings established the initial planning framework and led directly into the full build contract. For Hagerstown Emerald, the floor-plan engagement developed a drive-through service model for city and architect review before a larger design scope was established.
The result is a more informed handoff, clearer approvals, and a smoother path from early concept to licensed, buildable space.
See it built: Weedery
Business Operations
Small Business operations development and implementation.
Business Operations & Project Leadership
For nearly 30 years, Josh has built and operated his own businesses. That experience has given him a practical understanding of how every part of a business affects the next — sales, client relationships, estimating, staffing, vendors, production, scheduling, cash flow, delivery, and follow-through.
He has handled the full range of responsibilities that come with business ownership: developing brands, finding and retaining clients, writing proposals, pricing work, managing employees and subcontractors, sourcing materials, coordinating vendors, solving production problems, managing multiple projects at once, and making sure the finished work gets delivered.
That experience also shapes how he approaches projects. He does not treat design, engineering, manufacturing, or project management as isolated functions. He understands the downstream effects of upstream decisions and how they influence cost, labor, lead times, procurement, fabrication, installation, and the client relationship.
The result is better communication, fewer surprises, faster problem solving, and stronger continuity from the first conversation through final delivery.
Tools & Technical Platforms
Josh works across design, engineering, visualization, fabrication, media, automation, and business systems. The toolset reflects that range and is selected based on the demands of the project rather than tied to a single discipline.
Design, CAD & Visualization
Fusion 360, AutoCAD LT, Twinmotion, SketchUp
Used for product development, mechanical design, space planning, technical drawings, 3D modeling, visualization, and fabrication-ready workflows.
Creative & Graphic Production
Adobe Photoshop CS6, Adobe Illustrator CS6, Affinity, Inkscape
Used for branding, presentation graphics, production artwork, image development, signage, and supporting visual communication.
Video, Audio & Presentation Media
CapCut, OBS Studio, Ableton Live 12 Suite, Audacity
Used for video editing, recording, audio production, presentation media, demonstrations, and content development.
AI & Automation
Claude, ChatGPT, n8n
Used for research, technical documentation, workflow development, process automation, knowledge organization, and structured problem solving.
Business & Collaboration
Google Workspace, Microsoft Office
Used for proposals, documentation, spreadsheets, project coordination, communication, and client-facing deliverables.
Education & Credentials
Associate’s degree in electromechanical drafting, with additional art studies at Montana State University Billings. PPG Painter Certification.
Much of Josh’s broader capability has been developed through decades of hands-on work, independent study, business ownership, fabrication, design, engineering, and real-world project execution. Formal education provided the foundation; applied experience built the range.