Artful and Functional Design

With my background in materials design and engineering, project work and actually making things, I address functionally sound and sensorily pleasing requirements of tools and items for daily or specialty use. The aim is to place things of the highest possible quality in your hands, within a reasonable time and financial budget.

My engineering career has been around materials development, usually as keystones in a functional or structural system: glass and ceramics including fibers and fiber-reinforced materials, metals, polymers and functional materials such as electronic materials.

Textiles and other sewable materials are combined in my own sewing studio. I am constantly evaluating sewable fabrics and films for embedded functions. I also knit, crochet and craft in other ways, making for a large portfolio of possible products, desired effects and longevity of the item. Nothing I make is meant for fast, one time use consumption but meets and exceeds heirloom quality. 

All natural fabrics are either organic and prewashed/dried, or further pretreated to remove noxious chemicals and reduce your and my exposure. Any PUL I use is food safe and made with the lowest amount of chemicals. Products that might be used in a microwave are made of 100% cotton. Otherwise the threads may be Polyester, so it is best to specify your needs. All else equal, I aim to source in North America and Europe.

Since most of the items I make are not comparable with offerings on Etsy or similar pages, I generally do not sell from premade batches online to the public. I also do not currently anticipate a brick and mortar retail outlet. Instead, I encourage anyone interested in the results of what I do, to consider reviewing my work and commissioning a fully customized project. While 3D printing is most definitely useful for many prototypes, functionality of working prototypes can often only be achieved with other assembly methods. 

Please ask me about commissioning product designs, prototypes and even gift items.