For years, I lived and breathed industrial design. My days were spent cranking out prototypes in the woodshop, modeling furniture in SolidWorks, and rendering visuals in KeyShot. I built a career crafting retail things. From messy concept sketches to polished, production-ready pieces. But somewhere along the way, the spark dimmed.

Like many designers, I chased client work, built portfolio sites, and sent out quote after quote, only to find myself trapped in mass production pipelines I didn’t believe in. I realized I was just contributing to the global junk pile; more fast fashion, more knock-off mid-century furniture, more waste. The work didn’t excite me anymore. Deep down, all I wanted was a simpler, more intentional life. Time with my family. Space to breathe. A 100% vacation lifestyle, if I’m being honest.

That’s when I made my first big pivot into crypto.

What started as an escape turned into an obsession. I bought the dips, played with leverage, chased high yields, aped into NFTs without a clue and yeah, got rugged many many times. But it lit up my brain in a way I hadn’t felt in ages. Crypto wasn’t just finance. It was culture. It had its own language, energy, and attitude. It was weird and chaotic and alive. And it gave me a new creative playground.

Then something unexpected happened: in the middle of deep-diving into Blockchain and DeFi, my creative fire reignited. The same nights I used to spend dreading another production quote were now filled with AI experiments, prompt crafting, meme-making, and generative design. I became obsessed with creating things that made people stop and say wow. Not with furniture anymore, but with memes, content art, and community connections.

Now I’m standing at the edge of another transformation: from crypto enthusiast to Web3 artist and creator. I want to merge my background in industrial design with the limitless possibilities of AI tools and blockchain tech. I want to tell stories, design experiences, and make work that feels alive, playful, thoughtful, and future-forward.

So how do I pivot again? This time into Web3 art and design? That’s what I’m exploring next. I don’t have all the answers yet, but if you’re also straddling the worlds of design, tech, and crypto, maybe we can figure it out together.

Here’s to building a life and a body of work that feels more like play than production. Less waste. More wonder.

The Memory Core

An original piece of generative AI artwork created from a hand-sketched outline, enhanced through storytelling-driven prompts that guided both the narrative and visual style.

Trade it on Zora

I’m Alicia, an industrial designer turned DeFi ops at Suilend and Save Finance, lending and borrowing protocols on Sui and Solana.

I write about my journey as a designer-artist finding her voice through lots of failures and wins. Always balancing the pursuit of freedom with so much love for my family, friends, and the communities I connect with.

Follow along on X, Warpcast, and Zora to see where this path leads next.