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Welcome to my personal website, here I’ve gathered information about subjects and areas of work I find interesting. In general, I like to make things and solve problems. Areas of interest include creating useful quality products and exploring the fields of design, manufacturing, human factors, information technology and sustainable living. I enjoy designing & building furniture and other everyday objects with a focus on ergonomics, utility, aesthetics and environmental impact.

A common thread through my life has been a passion for inventing, designing and building things with a hands-on approach. When I was 12 I converted a chicken-coop in our backyard into a metal / wood-working shop. My home room in high-school was a large workshop with mills, lathes, precision-grinders, injection-molding equipment, heat-treating furnaces, etc. At Cal Poly SLO where I studied Manufacturing Engineering Technology the motto is “Learn by Doing”. The Exploratorium science museum where I developed & built biology exhibits has as its mission the creation of interactive experiences that help people better understand natural phenomena and the world around them. During the founding of Noisebridge, a collaborative learning space in San Francisco for technical-creative projects, I helped build out the workshop.

Over the course of my career I’ve been responsible for the design, development, and manufacture of medical devices, scientific equipment and various other products. In my free time I like to tinker & invent, sketching out ways to improve the human/machine relationship. While I love working with technology, I feel it’s important to remember that the machine is not an end unto itself, but more a vehicle that takes us somewhere. How can our relationship with technology lead us towards a better place? How can we build more human-friendly machines?

John Magolske
July 2024
37°20'N 121°53'W