About
I make interactive systems, AI experiences and physical-digital prototypes, usually in the space where a new technology is just starting to become genuinely useful.
Approach
Over the past 25 years, I've often found myself working at the point where a new technology starts to become a real experience — the moment when something that only existed in a paper, a lab or a rough prototype becomes something people can actually use, understand or enjoy.
That's happened more than once. In 2000, I was helping build exhibits at the Science Museum London that transformed visitors' faces using early AI techniques. In 2002, I was deploying wireless sensor networks in vineyards and writing about the work at CHI, long before precision agriculture became a recognisable industry. More recently, in Bristol, I've been running local LLMs on a Mac mini in a gallery, giving visitors personalised prophecies through a physical theatre model.
The thread running through all of that isn't one particular technology. It's curiosity about where things are heading, and the range to build in that space before the tools and conventions are fully settled.
My work tends to span the full stack of an interactive experience — embedded hardware, backend services, frontend interfaces, computer vision, speech, generative AI and agentic systems — mainly because the most interesting problems don't stay neatly in one discipline. At Sky, I built gesture-recognition prototypes using TensorFlow and ML Kit that informed a TV product used by millions. At Spyscape in New York, I led a team building a permanent interactive exhibition that is still running. At Ford, it's normal for me to move between bench electronics and software interfaces in the same week.
I do my best work when prototyping and production are close together — when something built quickly can directly influence what eventually ships. I'm comfortable with ambiguity, fast-moving projects and high expectations. I like experiences that feel simple and inevitable in the end, even if they took a lot of invention to get there.
A big part of the job is always about people, not just technology. At Ford, Future Cities Catapult and Spyscape, I've often ended up translating what's technically possible into something a multidisciplinary team can actually work with — through workshops, prototypes, documentation and plenty of practical iteration. In my experience, getting the technology right and getting everyone aligned are usually the same job.
Expertise
Software Development
- • React, Next.js (App Router), TypeScript
- • Tailwind, shadcn/ui, WebGL & Three.js
- • Bun, FastAPI & Python
- • Real-time systems & service architecture
Hardware & Physical Computing
- • ESP32 (WROOM/C6/S3), Raspberry Pi, MicroPython
- • Arduino & Arduino IDE, electronics & circuit design
- • CAD & 3D modelling (Fusion 360)
- • Real-time embedded systems
AI & Applied ML
- • Ollama, LangChain & Google ADK for local LLM and agent-based systems
- • ML5.js & TensorFlow.js for gesture and motion recognition
- • Stable Diffusion & Flux via ComfyUI, Hugging Face model evaluation
- • Whisper (speech-to-text), MediaPipe (gesture recognition)
- • Computer vision & applied ML
- • Data analysis & sensor networks
Leadership & Design
- • Team management & mentoring
- • Human-centred design & UX
- • R&D & innovation development
- • Workshop facilitation & Agile development
Career Journey
Recognition
- • ACM CHI 2003 — 'From Ethnography to Design in a Vineyard', co-author: Jenna Burrell.
- • FWA Site of the Day - Duologue interactive music video
- • Chrome Experiments - Machine Stop featured project
- • BBC Radio 4 Front Row - Big Bang Data exhibition coverage
- • BBC Click - Big Bang Data feature
Companies & Collaborators
What I'm Looking For
I like working with people who get excited about what technology can do next — at the point where something new becomes something useful, or better yet, something engaging and a genuine pleasure to use. Playing with technology isn't a distraction from the work. It's how the best ideas emerge.