Beyond the brief · Products, platforms & a patent

INVENTIONS

Ideas that didn't fit in a brief.

Some ideas become campaigns. Others become products, platforms, and the occasional patent. This is where I follow the idea wherever it goes.

PROJECT ORION
01 / 08 Spatial technology
An ordinary living room at night: two sofas, a floor lamp, a couple looking at their phones and the white Orion projector on a round coffee table.
02 / 08 An ordinary room.
Orion begins to scan, casting a circle of cyan grid onto the far wall and sofa.
03 / 08 Orion starts to scan.
The cyan grid now covers the walls, ceiling and sofa cushions, mapping the room.
04 / 08 Every surface mapped.
A projected menu on the gridded wall reads Select projection mode: Gaming entertainment.
05 / 08 Choose a world.
A swirling cyan portal opens on the wall, spiders massing inside it.
06 / 08 The wall opens.
Projected spiders pour out of the portal across the wall and sofa as the couple aim their phones.
07 / 08 The horde breaks through.
Spiders swarm the sofa beneath the glowing portal while the players fight them off with their phones.
08 / 08 The room is the screen.

01 / 08Spatial technology

01 · Experiential technology

PROJECT ORION

The room is the screen.

Orion projects digital imagery straight onto the objects and surfaces around you. No headset, no phone, nothing to download. A table, a wall or a shop window becomes part of the story, so retail floors, live events and brand activations become places people step into, not screens they look at.

Patented · U.S. Patent No. 11,127,212Method of projecting virtual reality imagery for augmenting real world objects and surfacesRead the patent
INCOMPARABLES
01 / 09 Fine jewelry
A single rough diamond offcut alone on black rock.
02 / 09 What got left behind.
A rough diamond offcut bezel-set in a rose gold ring, resting on glittering black sand.
03 / 09 Set in gold.
A yellow gold pendant with an irregular rough diamond slice lying on black sand.
04 / 09 Then a pendant.
An Incomparables pendant, an irregular rough diamond in a yellow gold bezel, in warm light.
05 / 09 No two the same shape.
A white gold pendant with a rough diamond hanging over green stone, a painted Tuscan landscape behind.
06 / 09 In every metal.
The collection on blue: rings and pendants in rose, white and yellow gold, each stone a different shape.
07 / 09 A whole collection.
A model wearing Incomparables drop earrings, two rough diamonds set in gold.
08 / 09 Every piece one of a kind.
A model wearing a three-stone Incomparables pendant in white, rose and yellow gold.
09 / 09 Worn, not forgotten.

01 / 09Fine jewelry

02 · Fine jewelry

INCOMPARABLES

Nothing was cut out to make these. They were what got cut off.

Every diamond cut leaves pieces behind. At Premier Gem those offcuts sat in a box collecting dust, so I proposed setting them, rough and one of a kind, in gold. They became the Incomparables: rings, pendants and earrings, sold wholesale to Premier Gem's retail partners and direct online, and still selling today.

Launched · Premier Gem · Sold wholesale and onlinepremiergem.com Etsy
DRAIPED
01 / 06 Creative intelligence
A loose round brilliant diamond on cream paper beside tweezers and a jeweler's loupe.
02 / 06 Upload a loose stone.
A pencil design sheet for a white gold teardrop pendant with the diamond in a bezel setting, shown front, side and bail detail, annotated chain, white gold, bezel.
03 / 06 Draiped sketches the design.
The finished white gold teardrop pendant rendered on warm sandstone.
04 / 06 Renders the finished piece.
The pendant worn on a model in a cream knit top, soft daylight.
05 / 06 Puts it on a model.
Campaign still life: the pendant on black glass beside a champagne coupe with a lipstick mark and a satin cloth.
06 / 06 Styles the campaign. Ready to post.

01 / 06Creative intelligence

03 · AI creative studio

DRAIPED

One product shot. A whole launch.

An AI studio for jewelers. Upload a single photo and get on-model images, Instagram carousels with copy, web banners and marketplace listings in minutes. Built by someone who spent years art-directing fine jewelry the slow way.

PINVERSE ARCADE
01 / 05 Play and creation
Pinverse Arcade on a phone: Create your pinball world, with the prompt A volcano island typed in and a Generate World button.
02 / 05 Type a world.
Then you play it: a steel ball in play on the volcano table, lava ramps glowing.
03 / 05 Then you play it.
The volcano erupts on the table as the ball hits the eruption target.
04 / 05 Eruption.
The volcano table in play, a steel ball blazing off the lava bumper in a burst of fire.
05 / 05 Play it.

01 / 05Play and creation

04 · AI game platform

PINVERSE ARCADE

Type a world. Play it as pinball.

Pinverse turns any prompt or photo into a playable pinball table in seconds. Players share, remix and compete on each other's machines, so everyone gets to be the designer.

HARMONY HAT
01 / 07 Wearable music
A plain black baseball cap resting on a concrete plinth in a soft, neutral room.
02 / 07 Just a hat.
The same black cap, now with a row of glowing synth keys built into the brim.
03 / 07 Until the brim lights up.
A musician in a smoky club, headphones around his neck, plays the keys on the brim of his Harmony Hat beside a DJ mixer.
04 / 07 Now it's an instrument.
Close-up of a DJ pressing a glowing blue key on the brim of his Harmony Hat while working the mixer with his other hand.
05 / 07 Play it on stage.
A young man on a rainy commuter train, earbuds in, plays the keys on the brim of the Harmony Hat he is wearing.
06 / 07 Play it on the ride home.
The same commuter takes the hat off and plays the brim keys with both hands, the cap resting on his knee.
07 / 07 Or take it off and really play.

01 / 07Wearable music

05 · Wearable music

HARMONY HAT

A hat you can play.

A collectible cap with synth keys built into the brim. Wearable music for artist collaborations, limited drops and fan merch.

On KickstarterView the campaign
THE RIFF
01 / 05 Musician gear
A musician carries the grey Riff gig bag by its handles across a wooden stage.
02 / 05 Carry it to the gig.
Product shot on green: the chrome frame folds out from the back of the bag. Lightweight and protective padded body.
03 / 05 Flip out the frame.
An acoustic guitar rests against the Riff, held by its fold-out stand, while the guitarist sets up his mic.
04 / 05 The bag becomes the stand.
The guitarist plays on stage with the Riff standing beside him, ready to take the guitar between songs.
05 / 05 One less thing to carry.

01 / 05Musician gear

06 · Musician gear

THE RIFF

The gig bag that stands up for itself.

Every gigging guitarist hauls two things to the show: the bag and the stand. The Riff is one. A padded gig bag with a fold-out frame that turns the bag itself into a guitar stand. I invented it after one too many nights carrying both across the city.

Quirky community winner · Prototyped
SLICKSTER
01 / 05 Experience planning
A phone on a sunlit stone table showing the Slickster logo on its launch screen.
02 / 05 Open Slickster.
The Slickster map view of Manhattan, a single cyan pin and a Pick a plan tab at the bottom.
03 / 05 Drop a pin.
The slycons screen: mood-based activity icons such as Casual, Romantic, Foodie, Music and Night Out, with Romantic selected and a Generate My Plan button.
04 / 05 Pick a mood.
Generating your plan: a timeline with dinner at 7:30 PM, a rooftop bar at 9:00 PM and a third stop still being analyzed.
05 / 05 The night plans itself.

01 / 05Experience planning

07 · Product design

SLICKSTER

Less planning. More living.

An automated planning app that turns the chaos of scheduling into a single tap. Product design, UX and brand by A. Wilens.

Some ideas need a headline. Others need a patent.

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