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Our vision for the 50/50 bottle is to let you take your drinks to go without the guilt or carbon footprint that go along with disposables. The 50/50 bottle piggybacks a svelte insulated coffee mug on the base of a stainless steel water bottle. Everywhere you bring water you also have a mug. Tea at the beach, coffee to go from your favorite shop, or a cold beer when you get to the campsite, the 50/50 bottle reduces trash from disposable cups and bottles, as well as clutter in your bag. It’s minimalist, packable, and guilt-free.
BetterBack is a product I helped design and shoot for its first Kickstarter campaign, which ended up becoming one of the most successful kickstarts of all time. Overall BetterBack raised over $2 million dollars with 55k backers, and was featured on ABC's Shark Tank.
BetterBack makes every chair ergonomic. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on one chair, you can make every chair fit and support your body. It is lightweight and portable, so you can throw BetterBack in your purse or backpack.
Coldsmoke Apparel is a Venice CA based outdoor apparel company that specializes in outdoor gear of the highest quality. Their unwavering belief in design-led apparel that is made entirely in the USA and Canada makes them an ideal company to work with. I've indulged my obsession for outdoor gear: designing concept pieces, hunting trends, and assisting with technical design, material choices, and factory visits. Coldsmoke has shown continued growth and will soon open its first brick and mortar retail store.
Included here are a few current pieces.
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The Audi Innovation Research Fellowship was a rigorous interdisciplinary collaboration geared towards exploring the car as a key node in a broader network of interconnected devices. It was aimed at reimagining new features, forms, interactions, and services that Audi could incorporate into their auto designs circa 2022.
Our team envisioned the car as a sanctuary within the high-density, high-intensity cities of the near future. We identified a specific demographic and created filters based on three spectrums (communications, environmental, and automotive) in order to speculate on how the car could provide connectivity and comfort that adapts to the situational needs of its owners.
One use case would be to have the car's environmental and communications filters wide open for driving on a beautiful day, allowing light, sound, and all electronic communications. The user then receives a video call and dims both filters down fully to darken window tint to black, initiate noise cancelling, and filter out all other electronic communications.
These filters would drastically change the experience of using a self-driving automobile in a busy city, at the same time making the car a far more versatile device for work, relaxation, and entertainment.
To spark a conversation around the big questions that come with the fast-approaching world of autonomous vehicles, we set about to create a tangible artifact from the near future: a manual for the self-driving car.
In this collaboration with the design consultancy Near Future Laboratory, we used a seemingly counterintuitive research strategy (creating the user manual to a nonexistent car) to speculate on how interaction design will meet the new challenges posed by self-driving automobiles. We wanted to dig into the details, discussing the known topics and discovering new questions about the unknown.
Our design brief:
“Represent the features, attributes, characteristics, and behaviors of the self-driving car and its requisite ‘ecosystems’ through the vehicle's Quick Start Guide.”
This modular wearable moves technology out of our bags and pockets and onto our bodies. Like jewelry, Links reflect personal style and wear like clothing. They are a step toward a future where hardware seamlessly integrates with our bodies and our clothing.
The half-necklace link (blue) combines communications and biometrics in a jewelry-like chain designed to compliment the lightness and freedom of movement that comes with a dress. In this example each “link” serves a dedicated function, be it communications, sensing, or battery power.
Links magnetic chain structure allow them to be easily moved from one article of clothing to another, and to flex with the natural movement of the body. They can go from a dress to gym attire in less than a second. They are an example of how wearable technology can positively interact with clothing without being built into it. Integrating the development and obsolescence cycles of electronics and fashion would slow down the development of wearables while making both more disposable.
Minnow is a smart water meter that was designed for the CCA Business of Design startup competition in 2014. It was awarded first prize.
Our vision for Minnow was to change people’s water use by giving them access to information about how and where they use it.
Minnow is a simple kit that attaches to the water sources in your home and shows you how much water you are using, as you are using it. Not only does Minnow provide real-time water usage, it also alerts you to leaks, monitors your water quality, and provides you with tools to analyze your water usage over time. Minnow also allows you to compare your household usage with others in your region.
Minnow is the result of an intensive three month research and development project that I led in 2014. Our product and research aroused interest from California utilities and we presented our work to Opower in 2015.
These low-profile hydration systems combine the aesthetics of stylish activewear with the functionality of technical outdoor gear. They are designed for the urban runner who cares about style and needs the performance of a hydration system.
The jewelry-like links of the bite valve and hydration tube attach magnetically to the collar, won't jostle at high speed, and reattach themselves when the runner is done drinking.
V1- (top/black) is a running vest with integrated hydration that blurs the line between technical equipment and activewear, making it more versatile and stylish than other hydration systems.
V2- (bottom/blue) is a hydration system designed to attach to any running vest or jacket (pictured here on a lightweight running jacket by Nike).
This tube steel and slung leather lounge chair was inspired by the curves of desert landscapes and the structure of the tents that nomads use to cross them.
I'm currently developing a final version of the Repose Lounge for the ShowPDX 2017 design competition.
This work vest speculates on a future where water scarcity leads to a reevaluation of what is essential to a good product. The vest's exterior, liner, and insulation are all made from undyed cotton to avoid the wastewater created during the dyeing process. The lack of color does not compromise the aesthetic or functionality of the vest, instead the cloth takes on a patina that reflects how it’s used, making it more personalized the more it’s worn.
The Human-Centered Design Project was a sixteen-week group design research project that I led alongside CCA graduate students.
We chose motorcycle safety gear as our topic because of the rapidly growing market for motorcycles and scooters in Asia and the United States. We developed the project from initial research, through development within our clients aesthetic, to a final presentation of market and prototype.
This is a simple laptop case that holds just the essentials. It slips inside your bag or carries like a briefcase.
This tiny block set was designed for adults. It's great to set out on the coffee table during parties or meetings, these facilitate natural breaks of eye contact and give the hands a tactile outlet that is as relaxing as it is engaging. Consider them a tiny pressure-release that stimulates conversation and creativity by tapping into our desire to fidget and break eye contact while talking.
Narrow Road to the Deep North is a collaboration between graduate students from the American Film Institute and Harvard University. The trailer is currently being used to create a TV pilot. I assisted with production and lighting.
The Gregor Costume is an elaborate insect costume designed and constructed for a California Academy of Sciences exhibition that took metamorphosis as its theme. The costume rolls up like a roly-poly bug and has a built-in speaker that plays a recording of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis.
The Shades Collection is unified by the incorporation of dividing lines. Each piece is designed to leverage the qualities of the industrial materials it is made from.
Economies of scale make oak flooring slats and steel tubing both affordable and pre-squared for easy construction. Rough saw marks create surfaces that need no protection; instead, they encourage the patina that comes with the scrapes and dings of everyday use.
The De Haro end tables were designed for a private home in San Francisco. They incorporate a shelf to store bedtime reading material, and a magnetic charger cable handler to keep the black walnut top clean and uncluttered.
