Hey I’m Ken and I’m Team Potatoes

Union Park is the Spot

Before we get started, all bean products and beans could be replaced with potatoes. Now that, we’ve got that simple fact out of the way, I like dinosaurs, trains, gems/minerals and comics. I’ve been in New York my whole life and used these influences in my art for forever. I love to sketch and I love to make art in general. I’ve been working on my brand, BRND, for the last 7 years or so and if you want to check it out the site is here. You’ll see a bunch of clothing and you may even find some writing on there. Also feel free to follow me on insta. OK Team Potato Bye Bye now

Hi! I’m Cyntia

I am proudly Peruvian 🙂 I was born and raised in Huancayo which is a city pretty near to Lima, the capital, where I spent over 11 years of my life studying and working. I decided to study Industrial Engineer since I’ve always been good at maths, but, honestly, I wasn’t sure what was my calling at that time and I’m still trying to figure it out.

My background is in sales and marketing. I’ve been working at Adidas Peru for over 6 years in 3 different roles, optimizing processes, leading digital and business strategies implementations and helping the retail business keep growing and being profitable.

However, design and art have always been part of my work. I love drawing and painting, mixing colors and fonts, and turning any idea, chart or data into something easy to apply, use and read. So, I felt the necessity to connect and immerse my self into this world and improve my design skills. I do believe that design always matters and it could be the only way to innovate and tackle many world problems in the coming years. Education and sustainability are two of the topics that I would to speak up and work on.

Likewise, I’ve been dreaming about NYC for so long, so found this program in this city was such one of the best matches! I’m still not an expert in the design world but I’m very excited and happy of what is coming. Can’t wait to learn!

After work, I was always running, dancing and learning something new 😊 These are still my favorite hobbies. Running a marathon is going to be my next challenge.

Hi, I am Yukti!

I grew up in New Delhi, India and moved to the US for my undergrad at the age of 18 and have lived and worked across  both of these countries. I’ve been in America for about 7 years and whisked off to India in between, to pursue my entrepreneurial calling. 

I studied Industrial Design at Ohio State University where, I discovered that my greatest passions and abilities were at the intersection of visual thinking, design research and service design. After working for a bit and moving on from my first startup, I realized that I want to work on problems that excite me and could have an impact on the world.

In search for impact, I founded Buildsys, a construction productivity app. Here, I learned what it takes to manage a creative culture, built teams that approach problems from a human centered perspective, crafted business, sales and marketing strategies and designed a SAAS product that is easy to use and adopt. 

During this time, I also fell in love with the power of play and  taught myself game design and created Wazo Space Station, an interactive digital dollhouse set in outer space designed for play, storytelling and fun for kids ages 3-6. I am now in the process of launching it in the App Store. 

My friends and family call me Yuki, pronounced “Yoo-key🗝”.  Fun fact,  Yukti, pronounced “Yook-tea ☕️” means ‘an idea 💡’ in hindi and playing with ideas, is my favorite thing to do! Speaking of playing, when not doing serious play, I can be found practicing Bharatnatyam, roller skating, spending time in nature, #yukifont-ing and painting. 

Roller Skating Yuki
#yukifont, See more on my Instagram @yukiarora.

I am looking forward to this class and grateful to have Becky as our instructor. I am excited learn the basics of physical computing and know more about it’s possible applications. At the same time a little terrified of sewing and looking forward to overcoming that fear this semester 😀 ! 

Hey! Rohitha Here.

Writing about myself is always the hardest part because I don’t now how to START! So I decided to start with an honest opening!

My name is Rohitha Remala and I am all the way from India. I am a Food-Lover and enthusiastic about architecture and I like building stuff – very vague. I love to Cook, shop and paint houses (Weird I know!).

This is Me!

Psss! … I painted the wall you see on the back!

You can see more about me from my personal Instagram account – rohitha.r or see a few of my works on my professional account [Disclaimer : It is fairly new] here – rohremala

My background is in engineering, and I majored in information technology. I worked as a freelance web developer for 6 months and then tasted the corporate life for 2 years as a business analyst for a fintech company.

Now you must be wondering why the hell am I here? – well the answer is I KNOW WHAT I DONT WANT TO DO!, and that is the last 2 years of my life. I realized that I didn’t want to become a business analyst or a coder for the rest of my life and started exploring different domains. I took a shot a product design and loved what new universes it is capable of taking people into, And that is how I got here!

Some of the things I am interested in are Physics, psychology, astrology, climate, mythology and conspiracy theories.

Hi, I’m Vani

I’ved lived in Chicago and Delhi. My parents are architects, as a kid I sketched the Frank Lloyd Wright houses my mom was conserving in Oak Park, as a teenager I sketched the monuments near the technology plants my dad was designing in India.

Sculpture was my focus in undergrad since it combined the design elements I learned from them with my love for the making process. I learned as many fabrication processes as I could, of which woodworking and metalworking are my most practiced skills. My senior year I took furniture-making classes (including CNC) and after graduating I continued on my own by learning a few computer object design programs.

I also love weaving, knitting, glasssblowing, screenprinting, moldmaking and casting, metalcasting and ceramics. With sculpture I liked inverting an object’s recognizable qualities like material choices, size, rigidity, structure, placement and functionality.

I worked as woodshop/metalshop assistant for 2 years and as a gallery technician for 4.5 years. After graduating I worked as a gallery exhibitions assistant for a year. I am hoping to prepare at SVA for a career in object making and design.

I have a dog back home named Pandora and a bunny with me in the U.S. named Bugs. My insta is @vani_ag. I love watching tv and movies, even took undergrad art history film classes to learn more, so please give me recommendations for what to watch!

Hi, I’m Heba!

Hi, I am Heba Jaleel. Here’s a little bit about me, who I am, where I am from and a few highlights of my life. I am from India but grew up and finished my schooling and undergrad in the UAE. I have been in Dubai all my life and this is the first time I am away from home and my family. But being someone who has always been fascinated and interested in art and design, visiting New York has always been a dream. Hence, this is a very exciting journey for me, but a bit scary too!

I started my bachelor’s in Architecture but soon realized it was not something I enjoyed and then switched my major to Design Management. Switching my major was one of the hardest decisions I had to make but I believe it was the best thing I did for myself. After completing my bachelors, I worked as a brand designer at a creative agency in Dubai. Although I had a good time working there, I realized graphic design related work was not something I wanted to continue as I wanted to do so much more. And that is when I made the decision to go to a graduate school and find my “calling”. And after being here at SVA, I believe I have made the right decision and can’t wait to see how the journey ends for me. 

I love to sketch, doodle and experiment with different kinds of arts and craft and it’s something that runs in my family. Some other things I enjoy doing are going for movies and finding new food spots and what better place to explore different cuisines than New York! 

Being away from home has not been easy, especially leaving my sister. But thanks to technology, I can stay connected with everyone back in Dubai. However, having my best friend here in New York has made my transition to New York much more smoother. 

I am very thrilled for my journey here at SVA and I am looking forward to learning more and more! And yes, I too love dogs so here’s a picture of Hershey to end this on a happy note 🙂

My instagram handle is heba_jalil 🙂

Hi, I’m Brydon

I was born in the scorching suburbs of East Melbourne, though I managed to escape the blasted pit of Victoria under the auspices of my father. I grew up in the milder city of Shanghai under the care of my grandmother. No longer having to deal with the skin-flaying sun and the flesh-eating creatures, I was able to flourish and grow as normal.

I graduated with a BFA in game design from NYU, I specialize in pixel art and pixel prototyping on Game Maker Studio 2 and Unity. Nowadays I tend to my plants at home, far away as possible from the hateful devil-breath summer of Victoria.

I look forward to low stakes sewing, as well as soldering once again. I’m not quite apprehensive of soldering as I’ve already been burnt by the iron, it’s paltry business once you’ve escaped the melting entombment called “life” in Australia.

Figure 1. I wasn’t sure where the camera was.

Come look at my plants!

Instagram: @b.z.h.y

Figure 2. My dear Robin, my most beloved.
Figure 3. New seedlings.
Figure 4. My tender greens.

Hi! I’m Rora Pan

Hi! I’m Rora, come from China and finished my foundation year in Beijing at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, then I transferred and graduated from the Cleveland institute of Art last year. During my undergraduate study, I have the skill in 3D modeling, rendering, model making, ceramic, glass making and also a little bit with interior architecture. After graduation, I started working at Spectrum diversified design and Tovolo as an industrial designer, you can find my design work at Create & Barrel, Magnolia, William Sonoma, even some grocery store like whole food, target:)

I have a sweet husky girl, welcome to hang out with Chuyi (her name)!!!

Excited to meet you all!!! My Instagram is: roraaa1998

My website is: https://rorapan.myportfolio.com/

Hii, I’m Sama :)

Heyy, I’m Sama! I was born and brought up in the Bay Area, California, but have been back and forth between there and nyc since doing my bachelor’s in the city (also because of covid 😭). I’ve mostly been doing digital art and design, but I’m excited to get back into sketching and making and trying new things like tufting and sewing. I’ve gotten into crocheting over the summer so that was a good start into using my hands again, which I actually really missed! I’ve also become obsessed with super quirky, functional yet useless products and that might be something fun to explore in this class as well.

Before coming to PoD, I was working as a junior product designer at a tech start-up where I quickly figured out it was NOT my cuppa tea. But, I’m really interested in starting my own thing/entrepreneurship so I can make work I really like and not make money for random old men 😬. If you have any advice, I would love to hear it!

I’m a big foodie, so I definitely have multiple lists 0n my google maps of places I want to go to try foods. I’m always down to try something new as well! I started to cook more with my brother this summer, which was fun, but now that we’re not together I need to get used to cooking and eating for just myself. Now, my goal this year, is to learn how to cook Indian food!

My instagram is @anewsama !

Hi, I am Patrick

Hi everyone, my name is Patrick Lafayette Baca-Chandler. I am from Albuquerque NM, where I studied sculpture at the University Of New Mexico. I enjoy designing and fabricating furniture, exploring materiality, and creating stories for everything I make. I like to eat and cook everything sweet, be it pies or cakes or traditional german sweets. I moved to New Jersey with my girlfriend and dog (beagle) in July and still have a lot to learn about living on the east coast (the humidity mainly). I cant wait to get to know you all and learn as much from you as I will this program.

My website is

plbc.squarespace.com

My instagram is

plbc_

p.s. Here is a picture of my dog being dramatic