I am an East Coast, southern-raised boy from western North Carolina.  

When I was in middle school, a friend gave my sister a handbag he had sewn out of old neckties. I was inspired not just by the bag, but also by the idea of transforming a widely available material in a creative way to make a more useful object. In an attempt to learn “how to make things,” I attended the same semester-long program as that friend, the Outdoor Academy. Deep in the North Carolina woods, I learned to carve a spoon, to hammer in a blacksmith’s forge, to run a sewing machine, and even to tan deer hide. Through these mediums, I learned how to really create things; there was no secret. All I had to do was think up an idea, plan it out, and give it a shot. Since then, I have been seeking out techniques to efficiently make useful objects and systems.