I'm a industrial product developer based in Portland, Oregon. I go by developer since I do a hybrid of design and engineering, using both to bring products to life. My strengths show when working with founders and small teams who want one person who can carry a product through production, rather than handing it off between a designer, an engineer, and a sourcing agent.

I've spent years on the manufacturing side of product development, doing sourcing, fabrication, and using hard earned sweat equity to develop an idea from a CAD model into a shipped product. This experience forms exactly how I tackle new projects, I'm thinking about the actual production of the item as much as the form and function.

How it all started

In 2013, I was in my last year of college studying Finance and wanted to make a bar cart. I sketched it out and roughly built the first prototype in the dining room of my shared college house. Friends liked the design and pushed me to post it on Etsy, which was just starting to take off as a company.

The first one sold to a customer in California. When I went to ship it, I found out it would cost around $200 to send fully assembled, more than I'd sold the cart for in the first place. I rushed to rework the design to pack flat, and shipping dropped to $50. That’s when it clicked, designing furniture to flat pack and ship efficiently meant I could compete on price with the big furniture stores. One order turned into many, I quickly took over my parents' garage before moving out and setting up my own studio.

In the 6 years I ran that furniture company, I sold over 800 pieces around the country (a few around the world) and the shop was featured on Etsy's homepage and briefly in Architectural Digest. The designs grew over that time, but not as much as I’d like them to. Production, maintaining a woodshop, and running a business were taking all of my time, and I was hardly getting to solve the engineering problems that drew me in to begin with. I wanted to focus more on the product and in the middle of 2017, a zany product creation idea hit me.

The idea was simple, I was a peanut butter lover and wanted to create a device that saved all the peanut butter from the jar. I brought the PBspoon to life first from whittling then into CAD and 3D printed TPU prototypes. While figuring out the product I read a patent law book cover to cover, connected with suppliers in China, prepared a small group of friends to shoot the video and prepare all the media for a Kickstarter campaign. I fully funded that campaign with the help of over 200 cold emails to press contacts, then connected with retailers to continue the sales. My dreams came true with a collaborative marketing campaign with Jif and to date, over 80,000 units have been sold.

With my transition into products and out of production, I closed the furniture operation in 2019 and moved across the country to Portland, OR so I can be more involved in the development of cool products and soak in more nature.

What I do

I've designed complete camper interiors that have gone into production, original metal products that have shipped hundreds of units, and a kitchen gadget (the PBspoon) that's sold over 80,000 units and counting. I work across the full arc of product development:

• Concept & design: sketching, ideation, research and turning a rough idea into a clear direction

• Engineering & CAD: Fusion 360 Expert level, clean parametric modeling, sheet metal assemblies, tool paths programming. Solidworks, Keyshot, Illustrator and Blender

• Prototyping: 3D printing (Bambu X2D inhouse), CNC (router laser), and hands-on fabrication in woodworking, metalworking.

• Manufacturing & sourcing: DFM, tooling, and working with domestic and overseas manufacturers to get products made and shipped at scale

• Other: Kickstarter/crowdfunding experience, retail/packaging, supply chain, IP protections

Currently most interested in

I'm always happy to take on camper and vehicle component work, since it's a big part of what I do. But the projects I'm most excited about right now are products that align with my personality and personal experience:

• Cycling components and accessories : I’m a big cyclist, I spent 3 months cycling in Japan a couple years ago.

• Outdoor and camping gear: the more individual product side of camping instead of very complicated semi custom vehicle assemblies.

• Kitchen tools: I was a cook in different restaurants from age 14 - 21 and made the transition into woodworking feel almost logical and natural.

• Toys: my grandfather was a toy designer for Mattel back in the day, I am always fiddling and at play. I would love to follow in his footsteps and bring more great toys to market.

If you're building something in one of those spaces, I'd genuinely love to hear about it.

Let's talk

Working on a product and you think this might be a good fit? Let’s chat and see how I can help!