Hello.
I am Shu, a designer, founder, and educator who cares deeply about how we make, how we sense human experience, and how we learn from nature. For more than 27 years I have worked at the intersection of textile craft, technology, circular systems, and sensory intelligence. I draw from neuroscience and biomimicry to think about user experience, always asking what nature’s systems can teach us about designing for life.
I founded Aplat with a focus on the local doughnut economy, creating everyday products from organic, biodegradable materials to lessen our impact on my children’s future and on the planet. Today I continue to evolve that work, developing new zero waste collections and building online service platforms that use data, AI, and circular retail models to reduce, reuse, repair, and recycle pre and post consumer waste, keeping materials in circulation instead of in land and soil.
I am also Director of Industrial Design at California College of the Arts, where I focus on new models of learning and curriculum that reflect where design needs to go. I lead the department, support faculty, and work closely with students to integrate systems thinking and life centered design into their studio practice. I care about reducing material waste in campus studios and helping students graduate as thoughtful stewards of planetary health.
Outside of work, I reset in nature on trails, along the coast, golf, and paddling out in the ocean. I love cooking and gathering around the table with friends and family. I am always exploring new tools, new questions, and new ways of shaping the future.
SHU
