Visual thinking first.
Drafting in sixth grade and AutoCAD in high school gave structure to something that was already there: seeing objects, mechanisms and alternate versions in my mind.
Inventor · Maker · Product Creator
I see how things could work before they exist.
Ideas start as a picture in my head. Then they become sketches, models, sewn samples, rebuilt versions and—sometimes—real products out in the world.
The through-line
Curiosity became a way of working.
Long before there was a company name, there was a kid taking things apart, studying how objects were put together, reading illustrated “inside” books and encyclopedias, and building things simply to see whether an idea would work.
Make the idea physical.
I’ve made dozens of prototypes across different subject areas. The point isn’t a perfect first attempt. It’s learning what the object tells you once it exists.
Ask what could be easier.
Faster. Simpler. More useful. More novel. Sometimes just more fun. That question has followed me from childhood builds to products sold in stores.
Products in market
Two products. One habit: notice the problem, build the answer.
The original Trezur Bag handles smaller finds. The Foraging Bag expands the idea for larger-volume collecting. Both grew through making, using, listening and revising.
Approx. 8 cups
Trezur Bag
A compact clip-on carrying bag built from an Oregon Coast beachcombing problem: keep the interesting things while leaving the sand behind.
See Trezur Bag
2.5 gallons · two carabiners
Foraging Bag
A larger carrying format for bigger collecting days, with two attachment points and forage-themed illustrations.
See Foraging BagThe medium changes—fabric, wood, software, paint, words—but the impulse is similar: make the thing that isn’t there yet.
More than one lane
Making is bigger than products.
Riley Invents centers invention and prototyping. My painting, writing and other creative work live in their own places, but they come from the same habit of seeing something internally and working until it exists outside of me.
Inventing Happiness
Paintings, visual work, murals and commissioned pieces.
Visit the art site →Writing
Poetry, books and long-form creative work built from the same observational instinct.
Published work →On the workbench
Some projects stay private while they are being tested. Others eventually earn their own name, site and life.
See current projects →