Old Hobbies
A small archive of product-design projects and CAD models I worked on before and during my early engineering years.
Before I became interested in research, I spent a considerable amount of time designing products.
I loved product design. I loved imagining new designs, noticing small problems in the things around me, and thinking about how they could be made better. I would often find myself designing things in my head—imagining their shape, how the parts would fit together, and how they would be used. Many of those ideas never went beyond my imagination. Some eventually became sketches, and a few became CAD models. CAD gave me a way to explore those ideas, but the act of designing itself was what I enjoyed most.
For a while, I seriously considered industrial design as a career. Life eventually took me in a different direction, and product design became a hobby rather than my profession. This page is a small archive of some of those ideas that actually made it out of my head and onto a computer. I used Autodesk Inventor as the primary CAD software. These are not professional design projects; they are snapshots of an old hobby and of a stage in my engineering journey.
Wooden Calendar
2017
This is a desk-top calendar and also a pen holder. The calendar consists of seven wooden disks arranged around a central cylinder. Two disks are fixed, while the remaining five can rotate to adjust the displayed date and day. The calendar uses a rack-and-pinion-based locking mechanism to lock these disks in place once the date and day are set. A brown wooden frame acts as the lock: in its normal position, it engages with the grooves between the disks and prevents them from rotating. To change the date, the entire upper assembly is rotated 180° about its vertical axis. This rotation drives the rack-and-pinion mechanism, moving the locking frame away from the disks and allowing the five movable disks to rotate freely. Once the date and day have been set, rotating the assembly back returns the locking frame to the grooves, locking the disks in place again. The top of the calendar also serves as a pen holder, making the object a combination of a perpetual calendar and a desk organiser.
Mechanical Photo Frame
2017
This was one of my favourite early product-design experiments because I wanted to make an otherwise ordinary object mechanically interesting. The photo frame incorporates a piston-and-connecting-rod arrangement into its stand, giving it the appearance of a miniature mechanical assembly. I also integrated gears into the mechanism, allowing the photograph to be removed and replaced while simultaneously securing the glass frame.
Umbrella
2018
The umbrella was one of my early attempts at modelling an existing everyday object rather than designing something entirely new. I measured the dimensions of each part of an actual umbrella and recreated its geometry in CAD. The exercise was primarily about understanding how an everyday product is constructed and translating a physical object into a detailed digital model.
The Pixel Phone
2020
Around the time manufacturers were experimenting with ways to achieve truly bezel-less displays, I became interested in how the front camera could be removed from the display altogether. Inspired by the sliding mechanisms of older Nokia phones and the emerging pop-up camera designs, I designed the entire camera module to slide upward when needed. The mechanism kept the front camera hidden behind the display when not in use, while retaining the two-tone design language of the Pixel series. It also offered a simple privacy benefit: the camera could not be used without first being physically exposed.
The Pladrone
2020
The Pladrone was a conceptual aircraft design, inspired by the upper portion of a square kite. The idea was to combine the characteristics of an airplane and a drone, allowing the aircraft to take off vertically without a runway and then transition to forward flight. The concept used two propellers mounted on pivoting mechanisms. During take-off, the propellers would provide downward thrust for vertical lift; they could then rotate about an axis connecting their centres to redirect the thrust backwards for forward motion.
This was more of a fantasy engineering exercise than a fully validated aircraft concept. I was primarily interested in exploring how the geometry, propulsion system and transition between vertical and horizontal flight could be brought together into a coherent mechanical design.
Mobile Phone Stand
2021
The mobile phone stand was born out of necessity, but I decided to make one rather than buy one because designing and building it seemed more fun. I made the stand from cardboard and designed it around the way I use my phone. The front includes speaker grilles to accommodate the phone’s downward-facing speakers, while a hidden cable routed from the back allows the phone to be charged while on the stand. The stand also includes a small storage compartment at the back, concealed behind a sliding panel.
Surface Duo Concept
2021
The Surface Duo was one of my favourite foldable phone designs. When it was released, foldable phones were still relatively new, and the Duo stood out to me for its notebook-like form. However, its extremely thin design came with several compromises, particularly the camera system. I started exploring whether a tapered design could provide more space where it was needed without losing the character of the Duo.
By making one side thicker, the design shifts more of the weight to one side, making the phone easier to hold with one hand while also providing enough space for a more capable camera system. The thicker side also provides more room around the USB-C port, which is useful in a design where the phone is otherwise barely thicker than the connector itself. Despite the taper, the phone still forms a rectangular slab when closed and when the two halves are folded completely back. The uneven weight distribution also allows the phone to remain stable when partially folded and placed on a table.
An idea that isn’t expressed was never born.