◆ Grand Hôtel van Hylckama Vlieg · établi 1998 Portland · Oregon
◆  Établi MCMXCVIII  ◆

Grand Hôtel
van Hylckama Vlieg six floors · all suites · no vacancies in craft

A house of product design in the grand manner. Twenty years of work kept like a fine hotel — every floor occupied, every fixture polished, room service shipping real software at all hours.

Proprietor M. van Hylckama Vlieg Register Google · Yahoo! · Walmart · Kohl's · Endemol Tonight Suites available for new engagements
The brass panel by the lift

Floor Directory

Six floors, ascended in order. Press a button; the doors take a moment — they're original.

PH

Kohl's — The Penthouse

Senior Product Designer · Generative AI Specialist

UX across cart, checkout, wallet, account, and in-store self-checkout. AI tooling, prompt libraries, and education across the entire design organization.

2021 — now
4

Walmart Labs

Principal Product Designer / Design Technologist

Mobile, voice, and personalization through a digital transformation. Recommendation systems translated into interfaces that didn't require explanation.

2017 — 2021
3

Google

Senior UX Engineer / Prototyper

High-fidelity prototypes for Google Cloud AI, Assistant, and Android. The bridge between design and engineering, crossed daily.

2013 — 2017
2

Yahoo!

Director of UX Prototyping · Senior UX Manager

Global prototyping teams led across offices and product lines. Rebrand and personalization work, scalable process, mentored prototypers throughout the house.

2005 — 2013
L

Endemol — The Lobby

UX & Engineering Lead

Where guests first checked in. Multilingual content systems and large-scale platforms across an international entertainment portfolio. The foundations of the house.

1998 — 2005
W

The Workshop — below stairs

AI-Created · independent product lab

Never closes. AI tools, design utilities, music, video, and arcade games — real software, built end-to-end, sent upstairs most weeks.

always open
Services of the house

The Amenities

Six standing services, available to every engagement. Most guests use four at once.

AI-native design

Systems where the model is the interaction — voice, agents, ambient assistance — not a chat panel bolted on.

Design engineering

Prototypes that behave like real software because they are real software. Built end-to-end by one person.

0 → 1 incubation

An ambiguous brief carried through research, framing, prototype, and shipped product. No roadmap required.

Enterprise UX

Legacy cart, checkout, account, and internal tooling — untangled and replaced with systems people want to use.

Internal AI tooling

Custom copilots, prompt libraries, synthetic research environments, workflow accelerators — used by real teams.

Leadership

Built and led prototyping teams at Yahoo. Drives AI adoption through teaching, tooling, and example.

From the guest ledger

The Record

20+
years keeping the house
5
grand establishments served
18
works prepared & shipped in-house
4
languages spoken at the desk

Ring for the
Concierge

The proprietor takes engagements personally — senior IC, lead, and director conversations. State what you're building, what's ambiguous about it, and your timeline. The desk replies the same day.

Ring the bell