This was the year I began my apprenticeship with master ceramicist Carina Ciscato. Every weekend, I’d head to Peckham, London, to throw pots, explore forms, and perfect glazing techniques. Occasionally, I’d spend hours in a full hazmat suit measuring minerals and metals to craft glazes. You can imagine a 7 year old waltzing around in a hazmat suit might be frightening to some. I continued ceramics until I left for college, but Carina remains one of my closest friends to this day.

A plug-and-play toy opened my eyes to electronics and coding. Soon, I was making automatic dog feeders and, more questionably, automatic tea bag dunkers. Unfortunately, after a week, I noticed my dog, Snoopy, growing increasingly melancholic—turns out, she wasn’t a fan of being fed by a robot. This was my first lesson in user-centered design: always consider the needs of everyone you're designing for.

After diligently saving pocket money, I finally bought my first RepRap 3D printer from China—it arrived fully unassembled. Weeknights were spent tinkering and calibrating. This not only introduced me to the wonders of computer precision and mass production but also kickstarted a small business at school. I designed and 3D-printed items like rugby tees, phone holders, and cases using TinkerCAD, which at the time felt far too simple for what I was doing.

2015 was a pivotal year. I used the earnings from my 3D printing side hustle to buy a second printer, and this marked the beginning of my experiments in combining electronics with 3D-printed designs.

There’s honey all over my sister’s hands. Viscous, sticky, and an absolute mess—there had to be a better way. In 2016, I created a honey dispenser, inspired by the Nespresso machine, that released honey at the press of a button. Each year, I’d create a new and improved version, which I’d ‘release’ to my family like Apple does with iPhones. I’m sure my mother was thrilled to see another plastic object cluttering up her perfectly furnished kitchen.
(See that bonus project here…)

With the global climate crisis in mind, I became fascinated with hydroponics. What better way to learn than by setting up a mini system in my cupboard? Equipped with grow lights, cuttings, and an automatic water irrigation system, I successfully grew spicy chilies to gift my dad (a chili enthusiast) for his birthday. My mother, however, was less than impressed—she was convinced I was growing marijuana in my room.

Feeling increasingly radical and experimental, I decided to learn about mechanics by building my own oscillating tattoo gun. Thankfully, I only used it a few times on myself. When people asked about the mountain-shaped symbol on my hand, I simply told them, “I draw it on every day. It’s kind of stained into my skin now.”

I became infatuated with massive machinery, especially ski lifts. Naturally, I decided to build my own model ski lift, complete with cabins that detach from the rope and slow down at the terminal. This project was a logistical nightmare, but I made significant headway in miniaturizing the mechanisms. You’d be surprised what you can achieve with PLA.

My next obsession was jewelry making. I began with sheet silver and a jeweler’s saw, eventually progressing to lost wax casting. But honestly, it wasn’t the jewelry that fascinated me—it was the packaging. I made home-compostable, premium-feeling packaging using pulped cardboard and homemade rice glue (which exploded after fermenting in the jar).
(See the result here…)