I'm Mike Charpin an industrial designer who ended up writing code too, mostly because I got tired of hardware costing money every time I wanted to test an idea.

I've designed things that had to survive fairly different tests: fitness equipment that needed to hold up to real athletes pulling on it, ID card printers that had to work for years of daily use, military helmet mounts that had actual ballistic requirements, and sci-fi dice vaults that just needed to feel satisfying to open. Along the way I've machined aluminum, snapped more taps than I'd like to admit, cast resin parts in a shared studio until the fumes became a problem, and soldered LEDs into a 3D printed enclosure to make dice glow.

Somewhere in there I also picked up web development, first to build sites for family businesses, then full apps. I like it for the same reason I like CNC and 3D printing: you get to test an idea, find out what's wrong with it, and fix it, without waiting on a supplier or a machine shop.

Most of what's on this site started as a rough version that didn't work right the first time. That's usually where the real design work happens.