Leona Hu Hudelson is the Founder of Airgora, a community, and marketplace for discovering exceptional physical product designs.
Previously, she led the web experience design effort for Autodesk’s high profile design/manufacturing products Fusion 360, A360 and Pier 9 Workshops. She has designed software products and branding for companies including Apple, SAP Labs, Google, Matter, and LUNAR. Her work has won the Red Dot Design Award and has been featured in Smashing Magazine, TechCrunch and Design Made in Germany.
Leona is Architect by training and Product Designer/Developer by trade. She designs and programs interactive things in pixels and spaces. She is passionate about the future impact of data science and machine learning on product design.
Nora Toure: Leona, could you let us know about your background and what brought you into 3D printing in the first place?
Leona Hu Hudelson: I am an entrepreneur who has worked as a designer and developer. Prior to founding Airgora and working in technology, I was trained as an architect in school. That’s where I learned 3D printing and other methods of new manufacturing technologies such as laser cutting and CNC.
I have always liked tinkering things since I was a child. My free time was always filled with building aircraft models, assembling toy robots or race cars. My hobbies were further carried on in my school, where I spent nights and weekends in the rapid prototyping shop CNC milling chairs or experimenting with new 3D printing materials.
When I joined Autodesk as a Senior UX Designer few years ago, one of the best perks is the free access to the covetable Pier 9 workshop. I took all the classes offered there including training on a Haas CNC mills and an industrial standard waterjet machine. One of the projects I created at Pier 9, a lighting installation piece, was exhibited at the Oliver Gallery in Oakland.
Read the rest at Women in 3D Printing
