I am an explorer of material and sound. From foot-pump clarinet organs to cardboard standing desks, I use everyday materials to create beautifully simple, functional, and accessible designs. I like to help people playfully reshape their physical and acoustical spaces whether it’s prototyping new classrooms with origami furniture or transforming empty stairwells into concert halls with DIY instruments. After spending a summer building cardboard adaptive equipment for disabled children, I launched Chairigami to explore flat packing systems in cardboard and making furniture that is portable, lightweight, and sustainable. From bunk beds to rocking chairs, I formalized my corrugated design language resulting in two patents which I received in 2016.
After guiding the business from a handmade furniture lab to an online retailer that has sold over 1000 die-cut standing desks, I came to the Stanford Design Master’s program to explore sound education and noise health. I worked with grade school children in San Jose to develop a mouthpiece that transformed standard PVC pipe into beautiful modular clarinets. In tinkering with instruments, children developed their own musical voices, discovered fundamental principles of acoustics, and brought play into musical exploration. After spending six months listening to the stories of autistic individuals repeatedly overwhelmed by noise in their lives, I worked with a team of Stanford designers to create a noise tracking wearable, helping autistic adults to better anticipate and avoid meltdown behavior. By making noise data intuitive and accessible, I empowered these adults to be self-advocates for healthier sound environments and better communicate sensitivities to sound.