My Portfolio
Passionate about ambitious products and great design in all forms.
Student of Dieter Rams and Daoism.
EMerge Wave-1
Truly a category creating product, the Emerge Wave-1 was a multi-sensory communication device that enables users to physically feel virtual objects over distance and time—imagine holding your grandma’s hand from across the world. It uses precise ultrasonic force fields to create mid-air tactile feedback—no gloves or controllers needed. I really dislike the word “haptics”, which has a limiting connotation. Much like our sense of vision is more than just rods and cones activation (which enables us to experience visual art), or sound is more than ear-drum-beating (which enables us to hear and make music), touch is much more nuanced than force feedback—it can have immense meaning and emotional communication embedded in it. This was our contrarian insight that led us to achieve more than previous attempts.
Co-founders: Isaac Castro and Mauricio Teran
Accolades: World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer 2022, Edison Award Gold 2023, Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas 2022 Consumer Products Honoree,
Featured in: Quartz, TechCrunch, World Economic Forum, TEDx Boston, Venture Beat
Timeline of Milestones:
2015: Concept originated during NASA / Google X Incubator
2016: First working proof of concept built
2017: First hires, V2 prototype built, integrated with VR
2018: V3 prototype built, with peer-to-peer real time interaction
2019: V4 prototype built, with first multi-city peer-to-peer interaction (virtual high five)
2020: Manufacturing in US successful (during COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns)
2021: Developer SDK development and launch
2022: Consumer Beta launch and ship (Kickstarter), Commercial contracts signed (DIsney)
2023-2024: Manufacturing in Taiwan successful, business pivot to B2B2C model.
EMerge Branding
Timeline of Milestones:
V1 (2015): First logo was made to evoke an emergence. We wanted a logo that could stand on its own and also be 3D if needed. I hand sketched a geometric shape emerging from another, and it stuck
V2 (2016): Pretty soon we felt that the logo needed to evolve as we started to build the first prototype. We were using sound waves to create physical touch, so we felt the logo and brand identity needed to feel more fluid. Sketching some sound waves evolved to V2 logo.
V3 (2019): As we started to move from stealth mode to the outside world, we felt the brand needed to feel a bit more polished, and we engaged with the accomplished design duo at Kin. Keeping the original wave-like design, we modified it to feel more modern, approachable, and positive. We also developed a warm color pallate that matched the company mission of brining people together. We chose the sunset-golden hour as our essence whenever we did photoshoots.
The Hydrous Branding
The Name: Even though we were very focused on coral reef science communication in the beginning, I named the organization The Hydrous which means “anything of water”, so we could expand our purview in the future if needed. the “us” in the name also calls out our individual part in the whole, and our role in this ecosystem.
Logo: I wanted a modern clean aestethic, that represented our mission to communicate science in crisp and clear ways. I worked with a talented close friend, Luke Walker, to make the final design. We played around with a few concepts enclosed in a circle, but then I came up with a water drop encased in a circle, symbolizing that water is essential to all life, and a part of us as a civilization. For the color pallate, we chose a bright crisp blue that really pops— a departure from the drab colors that you might find from other NGOs from the 90’s and previous era. The droplet could stand on its own, and the goal was to build brand awareness over time so people would recognize the droplet for The Hydrous.
The Hydrous: 3D Captured and printed coralS
I wanted to use frontier technology as a tool to create immersive educational experiences. Coral reefs hold immense value (hold 25% of the world’s biodiversity, protect shorelines from erosion, and are nurseries for many fisheries), but few people ever have the chance to see them in person. In partnership with Autodesk, we printed some stunning 3D corals that I 3D captured using photogrammetry and Autodesk ReCap Software over the years. Some made it into museums and we even gifted one to Richard Branson in person in 2017. We also did some interesting experimental art and I worked with a foundry in Berkeley to cast a coral in bronze which I filmed and edited.
Our work started to gain international attention and we were featured in Nat Geo, Fast Company, GRIST, and I was most proud of our coverage by WIRED UK and WIRED US did a video interview of Tatjana Dzambazova of Autodesk and myself.
When I hired a CEO in 2016 to replace myself, Dr. Erika Woolsey, took the helm and led the organization to its next level, producing underwater VR films, Immerse, which has been experienced over 1 million times by people who might not ever see the ocean, and VR film Expedition: Palau, which won a Webby.
Accolades: Webby People's Voice Winner, Honoree 2022, United Nations Decade of Ocean Science Partner
Featured In: WIRED, Skoll World Forum,
