A little about me…
I am a descendant of the ancient Illyrians, born in the small city of Korca, Albania. My family moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1998, leaving me forever connected to two worlds. I grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn surrounded by other immigrant families, watching them return home from their labor jobs to small apartments. Today I continue to observe but in Manhattan’s financial district. I’ve discovered new terrain does not come with a new identity. Instead, I find myself sorting through my encounters with different customs and struggles while wondering why things have been created in particular ways and imagining what I would try differently.
I studied Computer Science and Art History at New York University. Then worked as a software developer for three years following my Bachelors. Then I received my Masters in Industrial Design at Pratt University. During the program I studied Global Innovation Design aboard at London’s Royal College of Art and Imperial College and Japan’s Keio University Graduate School of Media Design.
I will continue to use code as a medium while exploring other ways to twist things into being. Through my designs, I want to empower people who usually feel powerless in society with products that serve them. I want to make goods that help humans feel connected as they build their own stories, things that enable them to be kinder to themselves and others. I want to create innovations that can turn into traditions, products that aim to reconfigure current human structures.