Most hardware founders accept their first tooling quote. An independent audit typically finds significant savings — before you commit the capital.
Not right now
On-demand Product Design & Engineering — Melbourne
We help founders turn early ideas into manufacturable products — combining design, engineering, prototyping and production expertise into one streamlined, engineering‑led workflow built for real‑world manufacturing.
Shade Spot came to us at a pivotal moment. Their first clamp prototype wasn’t meeting the functional or manufacturability standards needed for the WaveSail system, and they needed a fresh engineering approach.
We developed a completely new clamp architecture, including a novel locking mechanism that securely joins the two clamp halves. The clamp system is now patented in three countries.
The final design moved smoothly into manufacturing and is now part of the WaveSail product line — recently showcased on Channel 9’s The Block in Robby and Matt’s House 5.
Blackmagic Design is one of Australia's most respected technology companies, known globally for professional cinema and broadcast hardware.
As a Product Design Engineer at Blackmagic, I contributed to the Pyxis Monitor, Pyxis Pro Handle, and Pyxis Accessory Plates — collaborating closely with industrial designers, hardware engineers, and software teams to bring precision consumer electronics to market.
Jimi is a personal project born from a need for a functional home office that didn't compromise on storage or space.
Designed and built in 2018, the desk is CNC milled from two sheets of furniture grade plywood and uses Häfele knockdown fittings for clean, tool-free assembly and disassembly.
The desk surface folds away while integrated office storage keeps the workspace adaptable without sacrificing usability. Custom bent metal legs are fully concealed when the desk is folded away. Seven years later, it remains my daily workspace.
A Melbourne-based hardware startup required injection moulded tooling across a large part range — with cost minimisation as the primary brief. Traditional tooling approaches would have made unit economics unviable at early production volumes.
Working as a product design engineer alongside the managing director, the brief was to design a tooling system from first principles. Every component was evaluated — removed if non-essential, redesigned if it could serve a secondary function. Packers became ejector plate stops. Standard top and bottom plates, ejector plate bushings, and other conventional components were eliminated where geometry allowed.
The result was a family and multicavity tool strategy that dramatically reduced per-tool cost and lead time. Sliders and lifters were only used where the geometry genuinely required them — not as default practice. The tools were designed to run across a range of materials, and cost of production was low enough that bridge tooling became the long-term strategy rather than a temporary step.
A five-phase programme from first idea to production-ready product — adapted to your stage, budget, and timeline.
We start by understanding your idea, your market, and the constraints that matter. Brief, competitor analysis, and a feasibility check — so we know what we're building and why before a single line is drawn.
AI-accelerated concept exploration across form, function, and CMF. Multiple directions developed fast, reviewed together, and narrowed to the one worth building — with renders you can actually show people.
Full CAD development with manufacturing in mind from day one. DFM analysis, tolerance reviews, and tooling-ready documentation — no expensive surprises when you reach the factory.
Physical prototypes for form, fit, and function testing. We build, review, refine, and sign off — so what goes to the manufacturer is a product that's been held, tested, and approved.
Final production files, manufacturer briefing packs, and handover documentation. Your product leaves our hands ready to go — with everything a factory needs to build it at scale.
Get our complete product development guide — what each phase involves, typical timelines, and what to prepare.
Idea to Product is built for founders and teams who need real progress without the overhead.
We combine hands‑on engineering, manufacturing experience, and AI‑accelerated workflows to deliver faster iterations, clearer decisions, and production‑ready results.
Most studios treat AI as a bolt-on. We've rebuilt our entire workflow around it — from concept generation and feasibility modelling to rendering and documentation.
The result is a process that moves at a pace traditional studios can't match, without sacrificing the engineering rigour that gets products into production.
You work directly with an Engineer — no account managers, no handoffs, no briefing chains. Every decision is made by someone who understands both the design and the engineering.
When specialist expertise is needed, we pull from a trusted network of industrial designers, mechanical engineers, tooling experts, and manufacturers — assembled for your project, not maintained on overheads.
Early-stage founders need speed and clarity. Scaling requires depth and documentation. We adapt to where you are — a single sprint to validate a concept, or a full programme from brief to production-ready.
The same quality of thinking applies at every scale. You're not passed to a junior team as the project grows.
Beautiful products that can't be made are just renders. Every decision we make — material, form, tolerance, finish — is made with the factory floor in mind.
We've seen what happens when design and engineering are separated. DFM issues late in the process are expensive. We eliminate them early by never separating design intent from manufacturing reality.
