Matthew Borgatti
I'm a maker / thinker / builder / designer / artist / geek.
Summary
Experience
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2009 - 2009
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2008 - 2009
Designer/Engineer / Instinct Engineering
Corbett (owner of Instinct) and I first got in touch discussing the fabrication of one of his projects the Steampunk Treehouse. Months later he needed an extra set of eyes and mouse clicky hands to help him complete some product prototypes. I ended up staying with the company for several more projects through mid 2009. -
Dec 2008 - Jul 2009
Instructor / TechShop
During my tenure at TechShop SF I designed the curriculum for and taught Concepts of CNC, 4-Axis CNC on the Tormach, 3-Axis CNC on the ShopBot, 3-Axis CNC on the Techno Mill, as well as some studio classes on designing jewelry, puzzles, and origami on the Laser Cutter. -
2008 - 2008
CNC Machinist / Beyond Productions
I was brought on to help Terry Sandin and Zoz finish up some prototypes of a Biomimetic Gecko Climbing Suit. This was part of the Spiderman Technologies episode of Prototype This. -
Sept 2007 - Feb 2008
Intern: Content Production and Community Management / Instructables
I got hired after making some rocking Instructables. My job included wrestling with the (metaphorical) bears of forum wars, calming down arguments and keeping the community happy, helping new members create Instructables that were clear, pretty, and well documented, and making more content to enhance the site's depth. I also spent much of my time talking with potential contributers asking them to upload their projects to our site and encouraging current members to keep making awesome things. -
2007 - 2007
Mechanical Designer / Tellart
Making robots has always been a hobby of mine. Most of them are hacked together from what I can scrounge but Tellart hired me to use my prototyping skills and low budget design techniques to get a robot fully functional and installed in a bar called Pacific Standard. -
2007 - 2007
Machinist / Creature Effects, Inc.
I worked under machinists Dwight Roberts and Todd Minobe producing mechanical props and prototypes for Epic Movie, In the Wall, and I Am Legend. -
2006 - 2006
Machinist / ADI
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2005 - 2005
Intern / The CharacterShop
Education
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2002 - 2007
Rhode Island School of Design
Additional information
Posts
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March 10, 01:54 AM
The Anywhere Organ and the Awesome Foundation
I’ve got wonderful news! My project, the Anywhere Organ has just gotten funding from the Awesome Foundation. For those of you who don’t know the Awesome Foundation is a fabulous collection of folks who choose a new project every month and get it started with $1000 with no strings attached.

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March 06, 03:11 AM
Little Spaceman Lamp on Kickstarter
A little while back I made this cute little lamp. He made the rounds on the internet and I started getting calls. I started hearing from people who wanted one for their very own. In fact, I started hearing from people who own stores saying they wanted him on their shelves. Now, I was floored. I love this little guy but never thought he’d be such a hit. Now, I’m gathering funds to get a real production line off the ground. Please take a look at my kickstarter page to see how you can help.

- January 13, 10:52 PM
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December 30, 01:11 PM
Nominated for a Fun Theory grant!

The Fun Theory Group was founded to gently change people’s behavior through fun and play. They seek to create a public dialog of interaction with open art installations. I’ve been nominated for a grant to help me create something called the Anywhere Organ.
I’ve designed a pipe organ that can be installed into any space, a fire escape, an abandoned warehouse, a drawbridge, turning the entire space into an aspect of the larger instrument. Pipe organs have always fascinated me and it will become a tremendous instrument for getting people to play with space and sound. I’ll be collaborating with Brooklyn musicians to record the sound it makes and put on interactive shows with the organ. Still, I need you to vote for the project to make it happen. Take a look here http://bit.ly/6CDc08 and rate the project.
Thanks for looking. Thanks for reading.
-M@

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December 24, 04:14 PM
3d Brains
I’ve discovered a few sources for MRI images and the software to turn them into editable 3d meshes. You should check out my process on Thingiverse!

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November 28, 05:57 PM
MST3shades

Of course you want to be part of the world’s greatest experiment. You know, the one where a man is shot into space and forced to watch bad movies. Well you’re most fortunately in luck.Download the files from Thingiverse here.

- November 28, 02:10 AM
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November 28, 12:57 AM
Bokode @ Home
See the full writeup here.
A few months ago I published some experiments I’d been doing emulating MIT’s Bokode technology at home. For those of you who don’t know Bokode is a method developed in the Camera Culture Group at the Media Lab that tucks huge amounts of readable graphic information into a space as small as a LED. This is done by using tiny printed info just behind a lens and just in front of a strong light. When you point a camera at the lens and pull out of focus the lens projects a blown up image of the microprint on your camera’s film plane.
You might have noticed the blurry blobs that show up on film when you take a picture of distant lights or pinpoint bright spots that aren’t quite in focus. This effect is called Bokeh, after the Japanese word for blurry. You can find details on how it works here, and details on how MIT used this effect and turned it into a way to create passive, unobtrusive tagging with Bokode here.

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November 21, 05:00 PM
Printable Handcuffs
I love the new set of home fabrication 3d printers that are emerging. RepRap is a pretty fascinating project. Makerbot is amazing, affordable, and the folks who operate the company are the salt of the earth (though they don’t cause crops to wither.) At the moment the machines are pretty basic. They’re not very well suited to jobs that require strength or precision. However, the quality of their output is improving daily and given how easy they are to modify and how open the projects are people come along regularly, releasing their experiments and improving the designs by leaps and bounds. I thought I’d create a design that creates a working mechanism using only printed parts from these machines. This pair of handcuffs is downloadable, printable, and functional. If you print a copy of your own please let me know.

Ferret7 fabricated his own set! Hot!

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November 19, 01:32 AM
Music Video – Erlend Oye – Symptom of Disease
Uploads
Photos
Posts
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March 05, 11:15 PM
Don't...
Don't forget to check on how I made those rocket cards http://bit.ly/9e7tdl -
March 01, 05:34 AM
Booyah,...
Booyah, world! These cards are FINISHED! http://bit.ly/9tUayh I did a little writeup of the method for anyone who's curious -
March 01, 04:49 AM
Finished product
Giant Eye posted a photo:
One with and without its scratcher.
The Story
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Instinct Engineering { withinstinct.com } commissioned me to make them some exciting, unique business cards. I decided to create a scratch off design, where you'd scratch away the plan drawing of one of their engineering projects, the Raygun Gothic Rocket { www.raygungothicrocket.com/ } to reveal the finished sculpture.
I designed the graphics, invented the scratch ink screenprinting method, and the manufacture of the stamps myself. I screened these with the help of Marsha Pugachevsky { www.chevskystudio.com/ } and did all of the stamping by hand. I am incredibly relieved to have these done and out the door.
See the finished product here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r00I2A-2mXs
Watch a time lapse video of me printing them: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiWsgdAXX4s -
March 01, 04:48 AM
Ready to ship
Giant Eye posted a photo:
It is so cathartic, seeing them all boxed up like this. I can't count how many hours were spent tinkering, testing, designing, stamping, talking with printers and experts, and generally worrying about this project.
The Story
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Instinct Engineering { withinstinct.com } commissioned me to make them some exciting, unique business cards. I decided to create a scratch off design, where you'd scratch away the plan drawing of one of their engineering projects, the Raygun Gothic Rocket { www.raygungothicrocket.com/ } to reveal the finished sculpture.
I designed the graphics, invented the scratch ink screenprinting method, and the manufacture of the stamps myself. I screened these with the help of Marsha Pugachevsky { www.chevskystudio.com/ } and did all of the stamping by hand. I am incredibly relieved to have these done and out the door.
See the finished product here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r00I2A-2mXs
Watch a time lapse video of me printing them: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiWsgdAXX4s -
March 01, 04:47 AM
Final Product
Giant Eye posted a photo:
Looks fantastic, doesn't it? You wouldn't figure they were hand printed and hand stamped.
The Story
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Instinct Engineering { withinstinct.com } commissioned me to make them some exciting, unique business cards. I decided to create a scratch off design, where you'd scratch away the plan drawing of one of their engineering projects, the Raygun Gothic Rocket { www.raygungothicrocket.com/ } to reveal the finished sculpture.
I designed the graphics, invented the scratch ink screenprinting method, and the manufacture of the stamps myself. I screened these with the help of Marsha Pugachevsky { www.chevskystudio.com/ } and did all of the stamping by hand. I am incredibly relieved to have these done and out the door.
See the finished product here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r00I2A-2mXs
Watch a time lapse video of me printing them: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiWsgdAXX4s -
February 28, 09:06 PM
Card Production Panorama
Giant Eye posted a photo:
I caught a break while testing out some early stampings to take a few pictures.
See the finished product here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r00I2A-2mXs
Watch a time lapse video of me printing them: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiWsgdAXX4s -
February 28, 04:28 AM
Finally....
Finally. Business cards finished. http://bit.ly/bLXJXr -
February 25, 05:05 AM
Just...
Just finished off this time lapse video of myself working on some scratch off business cards http://bit.ly/cNcmkV #fb -
January 22, 04:48 PM
Finally...
Finally printing the 3d cameo. I'll update http://gianteye.soup.io with details on how to merge CAd meshes with OBJ's from zbrush -
January 22, 02:56 PM
I'm...
I'm dealing with Catalyst EX printers. Though they've been some of the friendliest 3dprinters I've used they still lack a clear UI #workflow -
January 21, 01:19 AM
Here's...
Here's my Cosmonaut Lamp Proposal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfQ-f1AA4Fw http://bit.ly/kickstarterspaceman #workflow -
January 20, 05:47 AM
Alright....
Alright. I'm going to bed. Leaving Netfabb to do hole repair while I nap. Just started a soup about #workflow http://gianteye.soup.io -
January 20, 04:14 AM
Zbrush Cameo
Giant Eye posted a photo:
I think this is looking pretty good. It does translate a lot of warped geometry to the back side of the object. Might require some cleaning in SW or Max. We'll see.
The process was creating a relief image in Photoshop, importing it to Zbrush as an alpha, modeling the oval pendant in Solidworks, and applying the alpha after importing the SW data into Zbrush. I use 3dDoctor to convert STL to OBJ formats because I'm lazy and like a GUI.
+ fairytalefashion.org -
January 20, 03:37 AM
Just...
Just switched to SolidWorks for some precision modeling for these 3d printed cameos. It's a bit of a bear. Surely I'll survive. #workflow -
January 20, 03:34 AM
Further developments in Cameos
Giant Eye posted a photo:
I'm creating the basic shape on which the cameo will be laid in Solidworks to make sure everything's measured properly. At some point I've really got to work out the overall workflow between these programs.
+ fairytalefashion.org -
January 20, 02:58 AM
Working...
Working on some 3d printed cameos for http://fairytalefashion.org Transitioning between zbrush, meshmixer, netfabb, and 3dsmax #workflow -
January 20, 01:00 AM
3d Printed Cameo
Giant Eye posted a photo:
I'm designing an antique-style cameo to house some of our electronics for a color changing dress. I'm using an alpha channel in Zbrush to create the relief from a photoshopped image. I'm debating using a skin created from 3ds or the Zbrush relief brush to create the geometry on the final cameo.
+ fairytalefashion.org -
January 20, 01:00 AM
3d Printed Cameo
Giant Eye posted a photo:
I'm designing an antique-style cameo to house some of our electronics for a color changing dress. I'm using an alpha channel in Zbrush to create the relief from a photoshopped image. I'm debating using a skin created from 3ds or the Zbrush relief brush to create the geometry on the final cameo.
+ fairytalefashion.org
Tweets
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PinkNoise: cumicoco: atozfield: meestarman: thecolorofmyday: treehugging... http://bit.ly/cMZOAr http://bit.ly/pinkn3 hours ago from twitterfeed
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PinkNoise: picapixels: OhGizmo! http://bit.ly/aj6ISo http://bit.ly/pinkn19 hours ago from twitterfeed
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Artist Deborah Landry just donated to the Little Spaceman Lamp project and I am so happy http://bit.ly/kickstarterspaceman25 hours ago from TweetDeck
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PinkNoise: anosognosia: pootee: M O O D - 09 March 2010 http://bit.ly/cyFdnr http://bit.ly/pinkn27 hours ago from twitterfeed
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PinkNoise: I’ll be your scapegoat by ~Derrewyn on deviantART http://bit.ly/cMgxRK http://bit.ly/pinkn34 hours ago from twitterfeed
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Packing up to head off to MIT. Wish me luck.34 hours ago from TweetDeck
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@ioerror Vatican City, of course.35 hours ago from TweetDeck
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@missmonstermel I've got a pair of foam pronghorn impala horns I made that are just about hat size. Want to try them out?36 hours ago from TweetDeck
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I just started a new blog: http://mst3khaiku.tumblr.com I need to make more projects that I find hilarious even if they're incredibly nerdy.38 hours ago from TweetDeck
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PinkNoise Updated: buddhabrot: wobblez:obe:kimagurefilm:rapemeagain:arma:bonekiss:y... http://bit.ly/9MCElt http://bit.ly/pinkn41 hours ago from twitterfeed
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PinkNoise Updated: ladymisskate: Original hipster. http://bit.ly/bNBEFu http://bit.ly/pinkn41 hours ago from twitterfeed
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You should read some mst3k haikus. http://mst3khaiku.tumblr.com @mst3khaiku2 days ago from TweetDeck
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PinkNoise Updated: (via shitgaze) http://bit.ly/bSKVnO http://bit.ly/pinkn2 days ago from twitterfeed
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Photostream Updated: Do nothing. http://bit.ly/cPFsni2 days ago from twitterfeed
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PinkNoise Updated: zanapod: loveyourchaos: sergeantbilly:sarahemalee:(via... http://bit.ly/aHDi7r http://bit.ly/pinkn2 days ago from twitterfeed
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The Kickstarter drive for my Little Spaceman Lamps http://kck.st/aJ03Vj ends March 30. Please take a look and please RT.2 days ago from TweetDeck
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@bethofalltrades what site was this? I like hearing from people who have to use a site how their coding failed.2 days ago from TweetDeck
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PinkNoise Updated: subcreation: (via fuckyeahclouds) http://bit.ly/aZPMEv http://bit.ly/pinkn2 days ago from twitterfeed
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PinkNoise Updated: (via mst3khaiku) http://bit.ly/aXKYp3 http://bit.ly/pinkn2 days ago from twitterfeed
Posts
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March 13, 02:03 PM
wornjournal lacollectionneuse anouck lepère in alexander mcqueen
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March 13, 10:02 AM
Vertigo Dreamscape (via javajive)
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March 12, 09:54 PM
cumicoco:atozfield:bibeim:blackandwtf:via Ross.Dali à la boulangerie.
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March 11, 05:17 PM
kml:
「華氏マイナス451度」
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March 11, 03:17 PM
lizs:
(via trainwreck-)
así me siento en estos momentos .
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March 11, 02:54 PM
(via animaobscura)
- March 11, 12:53 PM
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March 11, 10:52 AM
(via shitgaze)
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March 11, 08:51 AM
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March 11, 05:02 AM
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March 11, 12:59 AM
verdantdruid:argonauticos:theowlhooteth: Twin Stars Luis Falero (via The Cabinet of the Solar Plexus)
- March 10, 10:52 PM
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March 10, 10:51 PM
niub:
(via glucktoronto)
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March 10, 08:50 PM
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March 10, 08:33 PM
(via fuckyeahclouds)
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March 10, 04:24 PM
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March 10, 01:32 AM
Get Back In Your Book 2 (via Lissy Elle)
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March 10, 01:31 AM
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