John is a founder/CTO building systems for climate resilience - across hardware, software, and field operations.
Experience
Materra • Co-founder & CTO
Co-founded Materra from zero to global fashion customers (H&M Group, Bestseller, Mango); led product strategy, prototyping, and a 17-person tech org. Led the development of Co:Farm (WhatsApp AI, field mobile workflows, enterprise web) supporting regenerative cotton programs with 10,000+ farmers and compliance-grade traceability. Secured a £500k Innovate UK grant for the AI tool.
2019 - Present • London & Ahmedabad • Materra ↗
Daye • Design Engineering Manager
Led design engineering and sustainability across R&D and production - designing and industrialising clean-room manufacturing equipment and new product components, managing a 3-person team and ISO 13485 documentation/validation, and contributing to tampon manufacturing patent EP4026526A1.
2019 - 2020 (alongside Materra) • London • Daye ↗
Random International • Design Engineer
Owned end-to-end delivery of interactive electromechanical experiences - design, mechanical engineering, prototyping, manufacturing management, and on-site commissioning in China, Saudi Arabia and the USA. Led multiple six-figure projects with technologists, software engineers, and external manufacturers.
2017 - 2019 • London • Random International ↗
Tangent • Design Engineer
Led design engineering for large-scale kinetic systems - from concept through prototyping, test, manufacturing, and installation.
2016 - 2017 • London
Troika • Design Intern
Supported fabrication and quality control for commissioned artworks and assisted with planning and execution of large-scale interactive installations.
2013 • London • Troika ↗
Imperial College Design Collective • Co-founder
Co-founded and grew a 50+ member design collective at Imperial, running weekly workshops/talks and studio visits with industry guests, and managing budgets plus sponsor partnerships.
2012 - 2013 • London
Education
Imperial College London • Global Innovation Design (MSc)
2014 - 2016 • London & Ahmedabad
Royal College of Art • Global Innovation Design (MA)
Full scholarship. Semesters at Pratt Institute (NYC) and Keio Media Design (Tokyo).
2014 - 2016 • London, New York, Tokyo
Imperial College • Mechanical Engineering (MEng)
2010 - 2014 • London
St Luc Bruxelles • Architecture (1st year)
2009 - 2010 • Brussels
Recognition
Forbes 30 under 30
Manufacturing & Industry (2021)
Patent
Tampon manufacturing process; co-inventor • EP4026526A1 ↗
Industrial Design Studentship
Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
Skills & Tools
Leadership
• Org & people: cross-functional team leadership, hiring, coaching, performance
• Execution: strategy & roadmap, prioritisation, OKRs, agile, program management
• Stakeholders: customer discovery, enterprise partnerships, fundraising & grants
Product
• Product craft: problem framing, user research, UX strategy, storytelling, adoption
• Prototyping: rapid MVPs, user testing, experimentation, iteration (Figma, Adobe)
• Service design: workflows, support operations, field enablement/training
Technical leadership
• Product architecture: system design with engineers, specs/PRDs, QA/UAT
• AI & data: LLM feature design, chat workflows, data pipelines, metrics
• Delivery: agile, acceptance criteria, documentation, partner coordination
Domain expertise
• Regenerative ag & field ops: workflows, agronomy basics, field-team execution
• Cotton & supply chains: sourcing, traceability, compliance-grade workflows
• MRV & impact: data integrity, program KPIs, insetting/carbon levers
Hardware & Manufacturing
• Design engineering: prototyping/test, technical drawings, DFM/DFA (SolidWorks)
• Processes: machining, rapid prototyping, injection moulding design specs
• Materials: metals, polymers, wood; tolerance/fit/finish; quality control
Languages
French (native) • English (fluent) • Spanish (conversational)