My interest in the field of industrial design began when I was four years old. I had just gotten my first ever action figure in a bag of hand me down toys, and became enraptured by a little lever on the character’s back that made his arm move up and down. Mimicking something I’d seen my dad do to a broken radio, I took a screwdriver from a drawer in the kitchen and attempted to disassemble the toy.

Once I was able to get the back off and discovered the little plastic gears inside, my mind was blown. Every toy, machine, and moving part I’d ever seen was made possible by the relationship between little internal pieces like the ones I was looking at in this toy, and there was rarely more than a plastic panel between me and them. Though I didn’t know it yet, this was the first time I’d ever appreciated design, and that moment would guide the rest of my life.