I am a maker, an artist of craft, a scientist through trial and error, a designer of materials, and a linguist driven by curiosity. Patterns, language, culture, and ecologies guide my creative quests and research questions. Each artistic endeavor starts with a “why?”
Sugarcane is the world’s largest crop, and one-third of the plant is left over as bagasse after the juices are extracted for consumption or production of sugar and ethanol. Brazil’s harvest makes up 40% of the world’s supply, but more than half of the world’s countries produce the sweet reed at scale. If it’s hot and humid throughout the year, you’ll be sure to find sugarcane thriving. The cane crop sequesters loads of carbon during its growing cycle, and the bagasse is renewable, abundant, and easy to collect. However, it is usually tossed away, burnt or left on fields to rot which produce greenhouse gases and exacerbate the climate crisis. With this project, I ask, why don’t we use this agrowaste to craft objects that last, create spaces that spark joy, write unexpected narratives, and pave new paths for peoples, economies, and creatives?
Explore Language as Object, Object
Drawing inspiration from ancient and modern alphabets, I collage together symbols from different cultures and origins in a unified, geometric script. New and undefined words enter our most intimate space, the bedroom. This linen and cotton quilt makes use of appliqué, a traditional quilting technique. This quilt is the 2nd of a series. See the first in this series in the list of works.
Explore During a two week workshop, I joined up with a team of architects, designers, and makers to design and build a shade structure for the University of Évora’s Arts and Architecture campus.
Explore In reaction to today’s throw-away culture, I seek inspiration from the past as I search for ways to be more resourceful, make for longevity, and treat our materials as agents from their raw to their recycled form. The piece is fashioned from renewable and wasted sources serves as placemat for dining directly upon or for wrapping food to take to go. It can be gently washed and if treated well will last far longer than standard single-use plateware. Two simple utensils are used for wrapping. I created this piece from bioplastics, which I made from, orange peels, onion skins, avocado peels, alginate, glycerin, and discarded wool, & two wooden utensils
Explore MYCELIATION: Bioremediation & Fabrication with Mycelium
This research project, titled Myceliation, takes a dive into the wonders of the fungi kingdom and their role as bio-remediators and fabricators. Bioremediation is the treatment of pollutants or waste by the use of microorganisms (such as bacteria) that break down undesirable substances. Myco-remediation describes fungi’s ability to bio-remediate. Most fungi like to feed on cellulose-based substrates and as they feed, they excrete enzymes that catalyze the breakdown the reaction of long polymer chains into monomers into their single elements. Many species have been discovered to remediate toxic substances such as crude oil, polyurethane, and polyethylene. and other petroleum-based plastics. Some fungi, like Reishi, are known to grow fast and form a dense myco-rhizal network that can be used to make myco-composites and pure myco materials that are now being introduced into the architecture, packaging, and apparel industries. I developed two educational card decks, the Myceliation Myco-remediation Cards and the Myceliation Application Cards, with the intention to teach others about fungi's ability to degrade plastic and other toxic pollutants and to grow as a material for design applications. I worked with Roberto Broce to organize two Myceliation workshops where we were able to put the cards to use in a group activity. In tandem with these workshops, we experimented on how to bio-remediate different substances using two selected mycelium strains.
Explore During the Master's in Design for Emergent Futures course, I explore how design can be used as an instrument to facilitate change. I embrace an investigative and trans-disciplinary design practice that addresses environmental responsibility, social and educational equity, and evolving cultures of craft and fabrication. I look to ecology, craft traditions, and lo-tech solutions for inspiration. In collaboration with fellow students and members of my local community, I use my skills as a maker, designer, and material researcher to create new narratives around emergent futures. The philosophical theory of emergence describes small things forming bigger things that have different properties than the sum of their parts. In short, emergence is complexity arising from simplicity. In tune with this field of thought, I disregard moonshot or massive solutions, and instead, I approach change through small, sustained, and scalable solutions that embrace iteration and adaptation amidst diverse communities and contexts.
Explore This online landing page illustrates the concept for an educational platform for biodesigners, REsource. The platform is divided into three sections, an online material library and sourcing platform, an event bulletin board and an open-source toolbox. The online material library serves as an educational tool to learn more about material science, lifecycles, and applications. Here designers would also be able to search for available waste or recycled materials in their region and link them up with local suppliers. The event section provides a space for educators to advertise workshops, classes or other events about bio-based or circular material learning and sourcing. The open-source toolbox allows a global community to upload and share designs for tools or educational materials that inspire and facilitate bio-material fabrication. This project remains in the research phase.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
Drawing inspiration from ancient and modern alphabets, I collage together symbols from different cultures and origins in a unified, geometric script. New and undefined words enter our most intimate space, the bedroom. This linen and cotton quilt makes use of appliqué, a traditional quilting technique.
Explore Enamored by the "by-eye" making method that traditional Windsor chair construction invites, I designed this chair to have repeated linear geometry that leads your eye around the trapezoidal seat. I steam bent the backrest to curve to the shape of the back. I turned the legs, stretchers, and spindles on the lathe and cut and shaped the seat to fit the human form. In keeping with the chair's sharp geometry, I added angular chamfers to the seat edges and armrests. To ebonize the piece, I spray-coated it with a dark stain and a protective polyurethane finish.
Explore Language as Object, Wearables
In tandem with the Head-Code screen, I designed and made jewelry that uses the same symbology but invites the user to interact intimately and directly with the language though touch and personal decoration. I cut the script out of bronze, soldered components, and filed the edges smooth. Jewelry is used as a marker of personal identity. By adorning one's self with this series of symbols, the user incorporates this script into their identity and starts to define themselves in relation to this language. I cut, formed, soldered, and plated bronze to create this series of 4 rings.
Explore Language as Object, Wearable
Our accents, dialects, slang and vocabulary are in constant flux. In many cultures we see the languages blend into one another almost seamlessly. Some might speak Spanglish at home or use a word of English after ever 5th word of Hindi. Alternatively, a family will bounce between different languages at the dinner table depending on the subject matter. This behavior is common place and widely accepted. However, writing in two different languages across two different alphabets is rarely observed. This visual investigation aims to mimic the blending of spoken languages, but apply it to written words. Here, I examine different alphabets from Europe, the Middle East and South Asia and merge them together into “unreadable” geometries. I hand cut and filed this arm band and broach from copper plates. The broach is coated with a patina and the arm band is covered with a protective coating.
Explore In collaboration with my RISD classmate, Delilah Davis, I designed 8 different 3D tiles that could be uniquely composed in endless combinations. The tiles' raised ridges lead into each other, creating a surface of sinuous curves. We created positives of the tiles using the CNC router, made plaster molds and slip casted, fired and glazed a set of 64 porcelain tiles.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
With Head-Code, from my series Language as Object, I aimed to design linguistic system that emulates the immersive experience of language exposure and encourages the user to interact with the written code on different scales and in different contexts. I designed and welded a modular screen that divides a space with a series of large scale metal symbols.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
I digitally designed and carved these bowls using the CNC router as part of my series Language as Object. These objects allow the user to reorganize designed letters within an interior space just as he or she would on a page, in order to create a word, a phrase, a poem or a message. I invented a system of 22 syllables and developed a pronunciation chart, displayed in the drawing at the top.
Explore I was so grateful to get the chance to spend two months learning about and working with leather to make handbags and shoes. During this independent study, I designed and patterned these asymmetrical boots and sandals simultaneously using tape, paper and a shoe last. I then cut out the leather pieces and assembled them by sewing, glueing and hammering the pieces over the last.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
As part of my series Language as Object, I explored how language has an effect on our designed objects, interiors and exteriors. First, I designed an alphabet of chairs. The print, above, on the left, displays all 35 characters of the writing system in 2D. The two prints above, on the right, show the chair script in use, invite the viewers to contemplate and decipher the text, and give the users context for the full scale 3D versions of the chairs.
Explore Inspired by snake and insect anatomies, this anatomical toy accentuates and celebrates the simple sinuous movement seen in nature. To create this interactive and modular prototype, I laminated 3 layers of veneer in a vacuum bag to create each curve. I constructed solid wooden shapes to snugly attach the laminated pieces to the rubber spinal cord.
Explore Steam bent Rattan, Knitted. This integration of textile and furniture principles demonstrates an innovative technique using rattan to transform the traditional textile practice of knitting into a rigid structure. The long pieces of rattan are steam-bent into squiggling stitches and then knit by hand to create forms in the round. This novel approach to materials celebrates the inherent properties of a knit: its desire to curl and its ability to create volume and irregularity through purling. Purl stitches enter the textile in reverse and when incorporated into the overall pattern, form an undulating terrain. This construct has the potential to envelop, span or divide interior spaces and will embrace the addition of light and color. Made in collaboration with Anna Williams, RISD Textiles Class of 2017. Exhibited at Milan Design Week 2017 and 2017 ICCF Furniture Fair.
Explore To create the functional framework for these woven seats, I learned to cut and weld metal and to make welding jigs. This chair integrates traditional New England Shaker tape weaving patterns with a modern metal chair design. I hand dyed the nylon webbing deep blue and experimented with different weaving patterns before arriving at this one.
Explore Language as Object, Object
To give context to the Syllabowls and further elaborate the script, I created a felt rug that displays fragments of 2D writing using the invented syllables. As I designed this script, I developed a loose system of logic delineating how one could write with these Syllabowls in 2D and 3D. The felt absorbs sound, freezing the invented phonetic syllabary on a 2D plane.
Explore While implementing compound angles and finger joint joinery, this bench showcases the the subtle rose tonalities of the maple wood. The sharp geometric coil creates crisp shadows throughout the cavity.
Explore Drawing inspiration from Japanese Kokeshi Dolls, I designed and fabricated these dolls in collaboration with my RISD classmates, Makoto Kumasaka, Shaina Tabak and Santiago Peré. We turned, sanded, painted, and varnished the 2 sets of 5 dolls on the lathe. They come in two different color themes and their heads and bodies are interchangeable.
Explore COLLABORATION WITH FOMENTO
In collaboration with Alessandro Lugli, I made this longboard (among many others) by laminating layers of wood veneer and fiberglass, shaping and sanding it into an ovular shape. I designed the geometric pattern, cut the wooden shapes using a laser cutter, and glued these pieces individually on the bottom surface and then coated the piece with a layer of resin.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
The islamic tradition of Kufic motifs inspired this modular table design. Kufic squares abstract Arabic calligraphy into a geometrical structure where the negative and positive spaces work together in equal harmony to complete the composition. This table invites the user to physically interact with the script, playing with the repeated symbols and reinterpreting its meaning. I cut, joined, sanded and finished the numerous wooden segments.
Explore Sugarcane is the world’s largest crop, and one-third of the plant is left over as bagasse after the juices are extracted for consumption or production of sugar and ethanol. Brazil’s harvest makes up 40% of the world’s supply, but more than half of the world’s countries produce the sweet reed at scale. If it’s hot and humid throughout the year, you’ll be sure to find sugarcane thriving. The cane crop sequesters loads of carbon during its growing cycle, and the bagasse is renewable, abundant, and easy to collect. However, it is usually tossed away, burnt or left on fields to rot which produce greenhouse gases and exacerbate the climate crisis. With this project, I ask, why don’t we use this agrowaste to craft objects that last, create spaces that spark joy, write unexpected narratives, and pave new paths for peoples, economies, and creatives?
Explore MYCELIATION: Bioremediation & Fabrication with Mycelium
This research project, titled Myceliation, takes a dive into the wonders of the fungi kingdom and their role as bio-remediators and fabricators. Bioremediation is the treatment of pollutants or waste by the use of microorganisms (such as bacteria) that break down undesirable substances. Myco-remediation describes fungi’s ability to bio-remediate. Most fungi like to feed on cellulose-based substrates and as they feed, they excrete enzymes that catalyze the breakdown the reaction of long polymer chains into monomers into their single elements. Many species have been discovered to remediate toxic substances such as crude oil, polyurethane, and polyethylene. and other petroleum-based plastics. Some fungi, like Reishi, are known to grow fast and form a dense myco-rhizal network that can be used to make myco-composites and pure myco materials that are now being introduced into the architecture, packaging, and apparel industries. I developed two educational card decks, the Myceliation Myco-remediation Cards and the Myceliation Application Cards, with the intention to teach others about fungi's ability to degrade plastic and other toxic pollutants and to grow as a material for design applications. I worked with Roberto Broce to organize two Myceliation workshops where we were able to put the cards to use in a group activity. In tandem with these workshops, we experimented on how to bio-remediate different substances using two selected mycelium strains.
Explore During the Master's in Design for Emergent Futures course, I explore how design can be used as an instrument to facilitate change. I embrace an investigative and trans-disciplinary design practice that addresses environmental responsibility, social and educational equity, and evolving cultures of craft and fabrication. I look to ecology, craft traditions, and lo-tech solutions for inspiration. In collaboration with fellow students and members of my local community, I use my skills as a maker, designer, and material researcher to create new narratives around emergent futures. The philosophical theory of emergence describes small things forming bigger things that have different properties than the sum of their parts. In short, emergence is complexity arising from simplicity. In tune with this field of thought, I disregard moonshot or massive solutions, and instead, I approach change through small, sustained, and scalable solutions that embrace iteration and adaptation amidst diverse communities and contexts.
Explore This online landing page illustrates the concept for an educational platform for biodesigners, REsource. The platform is divided into three sections, an online material library and sourcing platform, an event bulletin board and an open-source toolbox. The online material library serves as an educational tool to learn more about material science, lifecycles, and applications. Here designers would also be able to search for available waste or recycled materials in their region and link them up with local suppliers. The event section provides a space for educators to advertise workshops, classes or other events about bio-based or circular material learning and sourcing. The open-source toolbox allows a global community to upload and share designs for tools or educational materials that inspire and facilitate bio-material fabrication. This project remains in the research phase.
Explore Language as Object, Object
Drawing inspiration from ancient and modern alphabets, I collage together symbols from different cultures and origins in a unified, geometric script. New and undefined words enter our most intimate space, the bedroom. This linen and cotton quilt makes use of appliqué, a traditional quilting technique. This quilt is the 2nd of a series. See the first in this series in the list of works.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
Drawing inspiration from ancient and modern alphabets, I collage together symbols from different cultures and origins in a unified, geometric script. New and undefined words enter our most intimate space, the bedroom. This linen and cotton quilt makes use of appliqué, a traditional quilting technique.
Explore Language as Object, Wearables
In tandem with the Head-Code screen, I designed and made jewelry that uses the same symbology but invites the user to interact intimately and directly with the language though touch and personal decoration. I cut the script out of bronze, soldered components, and filed the edges smooth. Jewelry is used as a marker of personal identity. By adorning one's self with this series of symbols, the user incorporates this script into their identity and starts to define themselves in relation to this language. I cut, formed, soldered, and plated bronze to create this series of 4 rings.
Explore Language as Object, Wearable
Our accents, dialects, slang and vocabulary are in constant flux. In many cultures we see the languages blend into one another almost seamlessly. Some might speak Spanglish at home or use a word of English after ever 5th word of Hindi. Alternatively, a family will bounce between different languages at the dinner table depending on the subject matter. This behavior is common place and widely accepted. However, writing in two different languages across two different alphabets is rarely observed. This visual investigation aims to mimic the blending of spoken languages, but apply it to written words. Here, I examine different alphabets from Europe, the Middle East and South Asia and merge them together into “unreadable” geometries. I hand cut and filed this arm band and broach from copper plates. The broach is coated with a patina and the arm band is covered with a protective coating.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
With Head-Code, from my series Language as Object, I aimed to design linguistic system that emulates the immersive experience of language exposure and encourages the user to interact with the written code on different scales and in different contexts. I designed and welded a modular screen that divides a space with a series of large scale metal symbols.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
I digitally designed and carved these bowls using the CNC router as part of my series Language as Object. These objects allow the user to reorganize designed letters within an interior space just as he or she would on a page, in order to create a word, a phrase, a poem or a message. I invented a system of 22 syllables and developed a pronunciation chart, displayed in the drawing at the top.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
As part of my series Language as Object, I explored how language has an effect on our designed objects, interiors and exteriors. First, I designed an alphabet of chairs. The print, above, on the left, displays all 35 characters of the writing system in 2D. The two prints above, on the right, show the chair script in use, invite the viewers to contemplate and decipher the text, and give the users context for the full scale 3D versions of the chairs.
Explore Language as Object, Object
To give context to the Syllabowls and further elaborate the script, I created a felt rug that displays fragments of 2D writing using the invented syllables. As I designed this script, I developed a loose system of logic delineating how one could write with these Syllabowls in 2D and 3D. The felt absorbs sound, freezing the invented phonetic syllabary on a 2D plane.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
The islamic tradition of Kufic motifs inspired this modular table design. Kufic squares abstract Arabic calligraphy into a geometrical structure where the negative and positive spaces work together in equal harmony to complete the composition. This table invites the user to physically interact with the script, playing with the repeated symbols and reinterpreting its meaning. I cut, joined, sanded and finished the numerous wooden segments.
Explore Sugarcane is the world’s largest crop, and one-third of the plant is left over as bagasse after the juices are extracted for consumption or production of sugar and ethanol. Brazil’s harvest makes up 40% of the world’s supply, but more than half of the world’s countries produce the sweet reed at scale. If it’s hot and humid throughout the year, you’ll be sure to find sugarcane thriving. The cane crop sequesters loads of carbon during its growing cycle, and the bagasse is renewable, abundant, and easy to collect. However, it is usually tossed away, burnt or left on fields to rot which produce greenhouse gases and exacerbate the climate crisis. With this project, I ask, why don’t we use this agrowaste to craft objects that last, create spaces that spark joy, write unexpected narratives, and pave new paths for peoples, economies, and creatives?
Explore During a two week workshop, I joined up with a team of architects, designers, and makers to design and build a shade structure for the University of Évora’s Arts and Architecture campus.
Explore In reaction to today’s throw-away culture, I seek inspiration from the past as I search for ways to be more resourceful, make for longevity, and treat our materials as agents from their raw to their recycled form. The piece is fashioned from renewable and wasted sources serves as placemat for dining directly upon or for wrapping food to take to go. It can be gently washed and if treated well will last far longer than standard single-use plateware. Two simple utensils are used for wrapping. I created this piece from bioplastics, which I made from, orange peels, onion skins, avocado peels, alginate, glycerin, and discarded wool, & two wooden utensils
Explore During the Master's in Design for Emergent Futures course, I explore how design can be used as an instrument to facilitate change. I embrace an investigative and trans-disciplinary design practice that addresses environmental responsibility, social and educational equity, and evolving cultures of craft and fabrication. I look to ecology, craft traditions, and lo-tech solutions for inspiration. In collaboration with fellow students and members of my local community, I use my skills as a maker, designer, and material researcher to create new narratives around emergent futures. The philosophical theory of emergence describes small things forming bigger things that have different properties than the sum of their parts. In short, emergence is complexity arising from simplicity. In tune with this field of thought, I disregard moonshot or massive solutions, and instead, I approach change through small, sustained, and scalable solutions that embrace iteration and adaptation amidst diverse communities and contexts.
Explore This online landing page illustrates the concept for an educational platform for biodesigners, REsource. The platform is divided into three sections, an online material library and sourcing platform, an event bulletin board and an open-source toolbox. The online material library serves as an educational tool to learn more about material science, lifecycles, and applications. Here designers would also be able to search for available waste or recycled materials in their region and link them up with local suppliers. The event section provides a space for educators to advertise workshops, classes or other events about bio-based or circular material learning and sourcing. The open-source toolbox allows a global community to upload and share designs for tools or educational materials that inspire and facilitate bio-material fabrication. This project remains in the research phase.
Explore Steam bent Rattan, Knitted. This integration of textile and furniture principles demonstrates an innovative technique using rattan to transform the traditional textile practice of knitting into a rigid structure. The long pieces of rattan are steam-bent into squiggling stitches and then knit by hand to create forms in the round. This novel approach to materials celebrates the inherent properties of a knit: its desire to curl and its ability to create volume and irregularity through purling. Purl stitches enter the textile in reverse and when incorporated into the overall pattern, form an undulating terrain. This construct has the potential to envelop, span or divide interior spaces and will embrace the addition of light and color. Made in collaboration with Anna Williams, RISD Textiles Class of 2017. Exhibited at Milan Design Week 2017 and 2017 ICCF Furniture Fair.
Explore Language as Object, Object
Drawing inspiration from ancient and modern alphabets, I collage together symbols from different cultures and origins in a unified, geometric script. New and undefined words enter our most intimate space, the bedroom. This linen and cotton quilt makes use of appliqué, a traditional quilting technique. This quilt is the 2nd of a series. See the first in this series in the list of works.
Explore In reaction to today’s throw-away culture, I seek inspiration from the past as I search for ways to be more resourceful, make for longevity, and treat our materials as agents from their raw to their recycled form. The piece is fashioned from renewable and wasted sources serves as placemat for dining directly upon or for wrapping food to take to go. It can be gently washed and if treated well will last far longer than standard single-use plateware. Two simple utensils are used for wrapping. I created this piece from bioplastics, which I made from, orange peels, onion skins, avocado peels, alginate, glycerin, and discarded wool, & two wooden utensils
Explore Language as Object, Objects
Drawing inspiration from ancient and modern alphabets, I collage together symbols from different cultures and origins in a unified, geometric script. New and undefined words enter our most intimate space, the bedroom. This linen and cotton quilt makes use of appliqué, a traditional quilting technique.
Explore Enamored by the "by-eye" making method that traditional Windsor chair construction invites, I designed this chair to have repeated linear geometry that leads your eye around the trapezoidal seat. I steam bent the backrest to curve to the shape of the back. I turned the legs, stretchers, and spindles on the lathe and cut and shaped the seat to fit the human form. In keeping with the chair's sharp geometry, I added angular chamfers to the seat edges and armrests. To ebonize the piece, I spray-coated it with a dark stain and a protective polyurethane finish.
Explore In collaboration with my RISD classmate, Delilah Davis, I designed 8 different 3D tiles that could be uniquely composed in endless combinations. The tiles' raised ridges lead into each other, creating a surface of sinuous curves. We created positives of the tiles using the CNC router, made plaster molds and slip casted, fired and glazed a set of 64 porcelain tiles.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
With Head-Code, from my series Language as Object, I aimed to design linguistic system that emulates the immersive experience of language exposure and encourages the user to interact with the written code on different scales and in different contexts. I designed and welded a modular screen that divides a space with a series of large scale metal symbols.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
I digitally designed and carved these bowls using the CNC router as part of my series Language as Object. These objects allow the user to reorganize designed letters within an interior space just as he or she would on a page, in order to create a word, a phrase, a poem or a message. I invented a system of 22 syllables and developed a pronunciation chart, displayed in the drawing at the top.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
As part of my series Language as Object, I explored how language has an effect on our designed objects, interiors and exteriors. First, I designed an alphabet of chairs. The print, above, on the left, displays all 35 characters of the writing system in 2D. The two prints above, on the right, show the chair script in use, invite the viewers to contemplate and decipher the text, and give the users context for the full scale 3D versions of the chairs.
Explore Inspired by snake and insect anatomies, this anatomical toy accentuates and celebrates the simple sinuous movement seen in nature. To create this interactive and modular prototype, I laminated 3 layers of veneer in a vacuum bag to create each curve. I constructed solid wooden shapes to snugly attach the laminated pieces to the rubber spinal cord.
Explore Steam bent Rattan, Knitted. This integration of textile and furniture principles demonstrates an innovative technique using rattan to transform the traditional textile practice of knitting into a rigid structure. The long pieces of rattan are steam-bent into squiggling stitches and then knit by hand to create forms in the round. This novel approach to materials celebrates the inherent properties of a knit: its desire to curl and its ability to create volume and irregularity through purling. Purl stitches enter the textile in reverse and when incorporated into the overall pattern, form an undulating terrain. This construct has the potential to envelop, span or divide interior spaces and will embrace the addition of light and color. Made in collaboration with Anna Williams, RISD Textiles Class of 2017. Exhibited at Milan Design Week 2017 and 2017 ICCF Furniture Fair.
Explore To create the functional framework for these woven seats, I learned to cut and weld metal and to make welding jigs. This chair integrates traditional New England Shaker tape weaving patterns with a modern metal chair design. I hand dyed the nylon webbing deep blue and experimented with different weaving patterns before arriving at this one.
Explore Language as Object, Object
To give context to the Syllabowls and further elaborate the script, I created a felt rug that displays fragments of 2D writing using the invented syllables. As I designed this script, I developed a loose system of logic delineating how one could write with these Syllabowls in 2D and 3D. The felt absorbs sound, freezing the invented phonetic syllabary on a 2D plane.
Explore While implementing compound angles and finger joint joinery, this bench showcases the the subtle rose tonalities of the maple wood. The sharp geometric coil creates crisp shadows throughout the cavity.
Explore Drawing inspiration from Japanese Kokeshi Dolls, I designed and fabricated these dolls in collaboration with my RISD classmates, Makoto Kumasaka, Shaina Tabak and Santiago Peré. We turned, sanded, painted, and varnished the 2 sets of 5 dolls on the lathe. They come in two different color themes and their heads and bodies are interchangeable.
Explore COLLABORATION WITH FOMENTO
In collaboration with Alessandro Lugli, I made this longboard (among many others) by laminating layers of wood veneer and fiberglass, shaping and sanding it into an ovular shape. I designed the geometric pattern, cut the wooden shapes using a laser cutter, and glued these pieces individually on the bottom surface and then coated the piece with a layer of resin.
Explore Language as Object, Objects
The islamic tradition of Kufic motifs inspired this modular table design. Kufic squares abstract Arabic calligraphy into a geometrical structure where the negative and positive spaces work together in equal harmony to complete the composition. This table invites the user to physically interact with the script, playing with the repeated symbols and reinterpreting its meaning. I cut, joined, sanded and finished the numerous wooden segments.
Explore Language as Object, Wearables
In tandem with the Head-Code screen, I designed and made jewelry that uses the same symbology but invites the user to interact intimately and directly with the language though touch and personal decoration. I cut the script out of bronze, soldered components, and filed the edges smooth. Jewelry is used as a marker of personal identity. By adorning one's self with this series of symbols, the user incorporates this script into their identity and starts to define themselves in relation to this language. I cut, formed, soldered, and plated bronze to create this series of 4 rings.
Explore Language as Object, Wearable
Our accents, dialects, slang and vocabulary are in constant flux. In many cultures we see the languages blend into one another almost seamlessly. Some might speak Spanglish at home or use a word of English after ever 5th word of Hindi. Alternatively, a family will bounce between different languages at the dinner table depending on the subject matter. This behavior is common place and widely accepted. However, writing in two different languages across two different alphabets is rarely observed. This visual investigation aims to mimic the blending of spoken languages, but apply it to written words. Here, I examine different alphabets from Europe, the Middle East and South Asia and merge them together into “unreadable” geometries. I hand cut and filed this arm band and broach from copper plates. The broach is coated with a patina and the arm band is covered with a protective coating.
Explore I was so grateful to get the chance to spend two months learning about and working with leather to make handbags and shoes. During this independent study, I designed and patterned these asymmetrical boots and sandals simultaneously using tape, paper and a shoe last. I then cut out the leather pieces and assembled them by sewing, glueing and hammering the pieces over the last.
Explore 